


Under the same roof

by Elodie12



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hate to Love, Humor, Idiots in Love, Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:28:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 69,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26101960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elodie12/pseuds/Elodie12
Summary: “What?!” She screamed, she couldn’t help herself.“Muffin, calm down. Everything is going to be ok. Chase is a good guy, living with him is going to be easy peasy!” Dale looked at her with a dumb smile on his face.“You’re kidding me right? This is a bad dream and I’m about to wake up in a few seconds, yeah that’s the only logical explanation.”Or, basically this is a fanfiction where there's no aliens, no sacrifices, no evil parents and the Yorkes are hosting Chase into their house and Gert isn't happy about it - at least that's what she pretends.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 84
Kudos: 60





	1. good news.

When she woke up this morning, Gert was in a good mood. For once her hair wasn't so complicated to style, she immediately found her favorite outfit to wear in her wardrobe; her _Feminist Badass_ t-shirt plus her dark green miniskirt. And when she went down to pick up her breakfast, she could smell the scent of blueberry-pecan pancakes and vegan sausages, her favorites.  
  
However, as usual, it was too good to be true. Today couldn't be a perfect day, something bad had to happen, just to remind her that life is a bitch. And no matter how happy you might be, bad things are always waiting around the corner to slap you in the face.  
  
Yes she knew, Gert was a pessimist, she always saw the bad side of life and even when everything was going well she had to keep in mind that this was not going to last forever and inevitably her bad luck would catch up with her, one way or another.  
  
It wasn't really her fault, it was just her over-thinking brain that kept planning all the worst case scenarios. Sometimes it was helpful. Like when she was always prepared for a loss of luggage at the airport because she always carried a small bag with her clothes, a toiletry bag and her anxiety medication. She also knew who to call if there was a problem with her old car. Damnit, she even knew the safety instructions in the event of a natural disaster like an earthquake or a hurricane.  
  
Although she wasn't sure she could handle one of them due to her anxiety, but at least she was prepared for it in her head. And that was the only thing she could do for the things over which she had no control. And when you are an overly reflective person, with anxiety issues and a control freak, surprises and the unexpected are your worst nightmare.

So when her parents, Stacey and Dale, announced her the "big news" as they called it, this morning during the breakfast, Gert started to freak out.

"What?!" She screamed, she couldn't help herself.

"Muffin, calm down. Everything is going to be OK. Chase is a good guy, living with him is going to be easy-peasy!" Dale looked at her with a dumb smile on his face.

"You're kidding me right? This is a bad dream and I'm about to wake up in a few seconds, yeah that's the only logical explanation.", she said while closing her eyes; she was starting to freak out, so she decided to focus on her breathing to avoid any panic attack.

"Gert, sweetie, this is real." Her mom said gently, trying to calm her down. "We know you and Chase haven't spoken for a couple of years, but he is a very nice guy. And Janet is our friend, they both needed our help, we couldn't let them down, you understand?" Now, she was talking to her like she was a child.

"Yes, you could have! He could have gone to one of his dumbs friend's house or under a bridge for what I care ..." She exasperated.

"Gert! This isn't nice!" Great, now her dad was looking at her like she was the worst person on the planet.

"Well Chase wasn't nice with me either when he decided to turn his back on our friend's group and started hanging out with Brentwood's elite of jockstraps and bitching cheerleaders!" She tried to calm her voice, but she was too angry for that.

"Gert, language!" Her mom told her, outraged. "Look, we know this isn't easy for you, but Chase's dad is really sick, he needs to go to New York to cure himself. Janet cannot leave her husband alone so she goes with him, but Chase needs to finish his last year of high school and get his diploma. This is a rough time for him and if there is anything that we can do to help him and his family, we have to do it. Especially if it's just host him in our house for the rest of the school year."

"Are you sure we can't just buy him a nice tent, and help him find the perfect spot to put it under a bridge?" She asked, casually.

"Gert! What happened to my selfless little girl who cares more about the others that herself? You're a justice warrior that militate for the homeless and now would you like to turn Chase into one? Come on Muffin, we raised you better than that!" Her dad said to her with a disappointed expression on his face.

Well, he wasn't wrong ... However, having to live with Chase Stein, her former friend, her first and only crush. The boy who broke her heart into a thousand pieces the day he abandoned her when she needed him the most ...

When they were kids, Gert and Chase were best friends. Well, they were also friends with the rest of the band: Molly, Karolina, Nico, Alex and ... Amy ...

Amy who disappeared almost two years ago, after another fight with her mother. She ran away and never came back. Her parents hired the best private detective to find their daughter, but he never succeeded.

Amy was a smart girl and she was pretty good in hacking, so if she wanted to disappear with no one being able to find her, she could. Even if it meant leaving all her friends behind, including her best friend, Alex, and her little sister, Nico.

Amy ran away when she was the same age that Gert was now, 17. Now she was 19, and even if her parents had no more legal authority on her, she still hadn't come back.

Sometimes Gert wondered what Amy has become, was she a college student in IT like she always wanted? Was she still in the country? Maybe she flew to Europe, she always dreamed to travel there.

And as Gert mind is a dark place, she sometimes wondered the worst, too. What if Amy has never been found because she was no longer alive? This thought always terrified her, and she tried really hard to think of something happier because that was what Amy deserved: a happy life.

When she ran away, their group of friend collapsed.

Alex was feeling guilty to not have seen that something was wrong. He never thought for one second that she could leave. That her relation with her mother was so complicated that she could abandon everything and everyone behind without looking back. So, he became withdrawn and lonely. He always was a nerdy geek, so staying alone and spend his days on his computer, wasn't a problem for him.

Nico was feeling angry. Her big sister had left her alone, with their mother, and their dad, but he never really had any authority facing her. She thought that, maybe she will come back for her, but it never happened. So Nico decided to push everyone away, so no one could never abandon her again. She also changed her style, became totally Gothic, this way no one could tell her that she was looking just like her sister. Sometimes, Gert saw her reading some Wicca's books at school, maybe she was looking for a way to find her sister – or to curse her mother.

Karolina was clearly hurt by Amy leaving, but even more by Nico \- Karolina's best friend - pushing everyone including her away. So, she decided to dedicate herself to her mother's church. Karolina's mom was ruling the Gibborim church, a religion that believed into finding the light to be at peace. This church was, ironically, helping runaway kids by providing with them a home and food. Karolina probably believed that by helping them she somehow was helping Amy too. So Karolina became the perfect church's girl, always putting a fake smile on her face and being nice to everyone, even the one who made fun of her convictions.

Molly was the youngest. She was 12 when Amy left. Now she was 14 and she decided to hang out with kids of her age, there wasn't anyone left to hang out with anyway when their group was dismantled.

And Chase ... Well Chase was Gert's best friend. Even when they were still all seven here, they always found themselves hanging around like this: Amy and Alex, Nico and Karolina, Chase and Gert. And Molly hanging out with everyone because she was the youngest and everyone adored her, considering her like the little sister of the band.

For as long as she can remember Gert used to do everything with Chase, from teaming up together to play hide-and-seek in Alex's garden, to learn how to bike without the small wheels. They even used to stargaze together on Chase's house roof, with his dad telescope, after their teacher paired them together for an astronomy project in eighth grade. Well, she did all the stargazing, Chase was too busy playing Candy Crush on his phone or sexting Eiffel, the girl at the head of the school dancing squad.

Gert didn't really remember when she started to crush on him, but she remembered when she realized it; they were 14, all seven of them were hanging out in Alex's guest house, like every Saturday night since they were 10, Karolina was wearing a pretty pastel pink dress and she was beautiful, as usual and Chase gave her a compliment about this, something like: "You're very beautiful in that dress Karrie!". Well, it was the true because Karolina was always pretty, even when she was little. While Gert always find herself ugly and now Karolina could be a Victoria Secrets model and Gert still couldn't stare at herself in the mirror for more than five minutes without feeling sick ...

Anyway, Chase complimented Karolina and that's when Gert felt it; the jealousy was running through her veins, going all the way to her heart. Where she could feel this horrible pain and she realized she was loving Chase more than a friend since some time.

When Amy ran away and the others left their group, Gert had this little hope that maybe Chase wouldn't abandon her, but he didn't. He was already on the lacrosse team since they all entered in high school and he just decided to stay with the brainless, full of steroid, lacrosse's bullies.

All of a sudden he had stopped talking to her, not even saying "hello" when they crossed paths into the corridors of Atlas Academy, their private school. And pretending to not see or hear, when one of his new friend was insulting her, criticizing her look, or opinions.

Gert was a feminist, someone who fight for the oppressed, someone who doesn't give a fuck about being dressed according to the society standards. What was the matters anyway, she could try as hard as she wants, she will never be as pretty as Karolina, or any other girls Chase frequents ...

The worst day of her life, was the day she came to school with her purple hair for the first time. She had always wanted to do that. She even had talked about it with Amy: she wanted purple hair and Amy always wanted to dye her hair blue, but her mother would have made a heart attack if she did so. So, they did a pact: when Amy would be 18 and would leave for college away from her psycho's mom, they would both dye their hair the color they want.

Gert stuck to her part of the pact, she dyed her hair purple a few days after Amy left, after all her friends left her. It was like a homage to her friendship with Amy.

However, when she arrived to school on Monday morning with her new purple hair, Chase's friends start to insult her so badly. They called her "Plum Pubes" and tell her she was even uglier than before, and they didn't know it was possible, Chase was there, he didn't react as usual ...

So Gert decided that Chase Stein was the worst idiot of all time and that he didn't deserve her love. She crossed him off of her thought, at least she tried, the same way he had cross her off of his life.

Since this day, she was wearing an armor to protect herself from everyone, to hide her feelings. Like this, no one would never see if she was happy, or in love, or hurt.

So yeah, Chase Stein could go sleep under a bridge for what she cared.

The only problem was, they were all friends because of their parents. All the parents of her old friends' band were working for a big company named "PRIDE".

This company had many different branch:

New high tech communication where Nico's (and Amy's) parents, Tina and Robert Minoru, worked.

Revolutionary engineering for Chase's father, Victor Stein, his mom, Janet, used to work there too, but she had stopped after giving birth to stay at home and raise Chase.

Medical research and development for Gert's parents, Stacey and Dale Yorkes.

Land and ecosystem survey for Molly's parent, Alice and Gene Hernandez.

Leslie Dean (Karolina's mom) was at the head of the Gibborim's church, which is the main association financed by "PRIDE" and her husband was an actor, Franck Dean, he spent more and more time devoting himself to the church since his last movie was a failure – as all other movie he played in by the way ...

Alex's mom, Catherine Wilder, worked for the justice department while his dad, Geoffrey, was at the head of the security.

So if Janet Stein had asked Stacey and Dale if they could take care of Chase during her absence, it was logical that they agreed to do it. Even if it was to Gert displeasure.

Maybe an earthquake would have been a better surprise finally ...


	2. moving in.

"Gert, they're here! Can you please come downstairs to say, "hello", like a polite human being?" Her mom screamed from the Yorkes's living room.

Gert sighed. It has been almost a week since Stacey and Dale's announcement, but she still couldn't assimilate the news.

She didn't even know if Chase was aware that he was going to stay in her house. At school, nothing changed between the two of them – or at least she avoided him well enough so she didn't have to see or speak to him before he moved in. In reality, he didn't try either to speak to her so ...

She knew that Chase was coming to move today, but she kind of hoped that there could be a miracle to stopped that. Like Janet who found another place to stay for her son, or Chase who decided to drop school and join the army, or even a zombie apocalypse.

However, nope, still no luck for Gert today, her wish was still not granted.

Today was Saturday, September was almost over which meant that she was going to have to cohabit with Chase for at least nine months ... Yeah just like a pregnancy. Maybe being pregnant would have been a better new ...

Gert got out of her bed where she was previously lying, depressed, thinking how much her life sucks. She left her room and took the stairs to go in the living room where she could hear voices coming from.

Janet was there, in a pretty pastel blue dress with some pumps. She looked pretty and elegant, as usual. Janet Stein was a skinny, tall, blond woman, with blue eyes. She had a beautiful face, with thin lines, and she always dressed elegant. Her voice was soft and Gert was pretty sure that this woman never swore or rose her voice. She was always sweet and nice to everyone.

Janet reminded to Gert a lot of Karolina physically and mentally. Karolina was also a tall, blond girl with blue eyes and she was always smiling, being polite and nice to everyone. Gert understood what Chase loves about Karolina, she was everything Gert wasn't.

Gert was an average size, not as little as Nico or as tall as Karolina, just normal. She used to have brown hair, now they were purple, and brown boring eyes. She had a few extra pounds, giving her curves and extra skin, while Karolina was skinny. The only good thing about this, was that Gert had a beautiful chest while Karolina wasn't very spoiled and Gert knew it was sad and bad, but she couldn't help herself to feel proud the day she caught Chase staring at her breast when they were swimming in Alex's pool and not at Karolina's perfect body for once – she knew it was pathetic, but back then she was just a teenage girl with a stupid crush on a stupid boy. Now she knew that body shaming between girls is just a strengthening of the dictate of beauty imposed by this patriarchal society they were living in.

"Gert! Sweetie, look at you! You're so beautiful! You grew so much since the last time I saw you! Now you're a beautiful woman!" Janet turned her way, smiling at her.

Really? Well maybe Janet needed glasses, Gert could still give her the number of her ophthalmologist. Or maybe Janet was just being polite that was the kind of stuff adults always said to a kid – even if she wasn't one anymore – they haven't seen for a long time and two years were quite a time, so.

"Hi Janet! Thank you! It's nice to see you again." Gert wasn't lying, Janet was a kind woman, she never understood how she could end up with a dick like Victor Stein.

While Janet was nice and sweet, Victor Stein always appeared cold and heartless. He was a genius sure, but Gert was almost certain she never saw this man smile. He was a not so tall man (Janet was overtaking him when she had heels on) with brown eyes and hair and his face was always emotionless.

Chase was the perfect match physically of both his parents, cute face, brown eyes with some hints of blue inside and soft brown hair. He also had a beautiful smile with dimples. Now that he was an athletic, he had a killing hot body too, to Gert greatest misfortune – it was hard to not stared at him at school, when he was looking so good.

Janet came closer and took her into her skinny arms for a hug and Gert smiled, this woman was truly an angel.

"Hi Gert."

She could recognize this voice among thousands. Just hearing his voice after two years gave her shivers. She turned around, calmly and she saw him, standing in her living room with a cardboard in his arm, full of his lacrosse trophies and other sports stuff. He was looking at her with a dumb smile on his face. Gert felt so angry. How dare he acted like nothing happened, like he didn't disregard her for two years, like they were just some old friends meeting up after some time?!

"Chase." She hissed while looking at him with dark eyes.

He lost his smile. Good. He might be an idiot, but at least he understood he wasn't welcome here. Or, more like she didn't welcome him here because obviously, her parents were more than happy to host him.

"Muffin, can you help Chase moving his stuff in the guest room please?" Asked her dad.

Before she could answer, and tell Chase to put his stuff in his ass and leave her house, Chase reacted: "Oh it's OK Dale, I can do it myself, don't worry!"

"Don't be silly buddy, Gert can help you move in, right?" Added her dad with a smile.

"No really, it's not necessary, plus some of the boxes are pretty heavy so ..." Chase started to argued.

"Oh so because I'm a woman I cannot be strong enough to raise a box full of your protein powder and hair gel?!" She exclaimed.

She knew she shouldn't argue against him to help him with his cardboard boxes, but between her hate for Chase and her feminism, feminism win.

"This isn't the only stuff I carry with me! I've got some books too ..." He replied, clearly insulted.

"Well, I'm pretty sure they all fit in one box and that's the lightest of them all, actually you didn't need a box just to carry your Sports World Guinness Records book and your GQ magazine!" She cut him off.

"Hey! I own real books too!" He said, offended.

"Without pictures? And with more than 2000 words?" She replied, sarcastically.

"OK that's enough!" Her dad said, coming between them to calm them. "Chase let me help you with your stuff, Gert why don't you go with your mom and Janet in the kitchen grab something to drink? We have an amazing green matcha tea that we bring back from our last trip to Japan, you're going to love it Janet!"

Gert followed her mom and Janet to the kitchen, they chitchatted a little, Janet asked her some questions about school and her studies projects and Gert was happy to replied.

Then, her dad and Chase met them up in the kitchen. They talked for some time, Gert especially ignoring Chase and suddenly it was time for Janet to leave and say goodbye to her son.

"Be nice with the Yorkes, Chase, and help them with the chores. Don't let your lacrosse's stuffs all over the house either. Oh, and I'll try to be there for some of your games this season, I already booked a fly for a weekend in October when you play. Don't forget to Skype me at least twice a week! Oh my baby, I'm going to miss you so much!" Janet took her son into her arms, she was crying now.

"I'm going to miss you too mom ..." Chase put his arms against his mother's back and give her a bear hug. He was crying too. Gert found it cute, not Chase, but the fact that he wasn't ashamed to cry in front of them. She always believed boys shouldn't be ashamed of crying that was another diktat of the society.

Chase put a kiss on top on his mom's head and Gert felt her heart melted ... Noooooooo, no, no and no! Don't do that Gertrude Yorkes! Don't you dare let yourself falling for Chase Stein again! He is a dick! He abandoned you and he didn't deserve your love! You're a strong independent woman who doesn't need Chase Stein in her life to be happy!

After a lot of cry and sweets words, Janet eventually left. Chase was waving to his mom as she drove away and tears were still running down his face. Gert felt a pinch in her heart, she got inside before doing anything stupid, like comforting him. She went to the kitchen, clearing the cups of tea still on the table.

She heard her dad comforting Chase in the corridor: "Don't worry buddy, you're going to see her soon, and you can Skype her whenever you want!"

"Sure as long as Victor Stein isn't around ... Never mind, can I help you with something? Do you need some help for the dinner?" Chase offered, whipping away the tears from his face.

What was that supposed to mean? Gert knew Victor Stein was a dick, but why him being around would avoid Janet from calling their son?

"Sure! I'm doing some burgers tonight, is it still your favorite meal?" Asked Dale.

"Oh yes! The homemade beef burger from Dale Yorkes with his secret burger sauce? Best food ever! No one competes you on this!" Chase sounded like a child on Christmas morning.

They were in the kitchen now; Chase's eyes were red, but he wasn't crying anymore. Actually he was smiling. Well if all he needs to be happy is Dale's burgers, then he was probably simpler of mind than she thought.

"Muffin, you want to help us doing the burgers? I could use some help with the homemade paprika fries." Asked her dad with hope in his eyes, he was looking at her with a begging face.

"Fine ..." She yielded. "I'll do it, but don't put him anywhere near me when I'll have a knife in my hand, if there's an accident it's your responsibility!"

Dale sighed. What? At least she agreed to stay in the same room as Chase for more than 20 minutes so it was a start. He should be happy about it, she was making some efforts!

Speaking of happy, Chase was looking at her with steely glare, she shrugged.

After a battle of dark eyes between her, and Chase (that she totally won by the way) the three of them started cooking dinner. Dale explain to Chase what they have to do: unfroze four homemade burger breads baked by Stacey, mixing the meat with spices and formed steaks with it – and did the same with vegan meat for Gert – cutting all the other ingredients for the burger (cheese, salad, tomatoes, onions and pickles because a burger without pickles isn't a real burger) and prepared the secret sauce. Dale was chatting with Chase all along and she was staying in a corner of the kitchen, cutting the potatoes. When everything was almost ready, Dale kicked them out of the kitchen to prepare his secret burger sauce.

They stayed in the corridor awkwardly for a few seconds, staring at each other without knowing what to do or say. When Chase start to open his mouth like he was about to say something, Gert headed to her room.

Her mom called her for dinner a few minutes later, she headed back to the kitchen where the table was already put, probably by Chase. They had a round table where her parents always face each other so she ended up facing Chase.

"OK three beefs burgers and one veggie for you Muffin! With some paprika fries of course, bon apétit!"

Her mom had made some kale salad too so they would have vegetables on the table. They ate and talked, well, more like, her parents talked with Chase and she stayed silent, eating her burger while sending him all the dark energy she could manage. They asked him about school and life, catching up on what happened in the last two years and if Gert hadn't a mouth full of fries, she would have sent some verbal pick to him, but she had a mouth full of fries, and fries are sacred so she wasn't going to wasted them because of some jockstrap idiot.

When dinner was over, Chase immediately stood up to clear the table and put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Well, at least something good with him moving in: she didn't have to do all the chore her parents usually gave her alone anymore, Chase will do some of them instead of her.

"OK today was a long day, why don't you guys go to your rooms to rest? We've got a surprise for you tomorrow, and you have to get up early." Dale had a mysterious smile on his face and Gert immediately though that the surprise was going to be bad.

"Please tell me you're not hosting another of my former friends in the house? One is already enough plus there no anymore free guest room and I'm not sharing mine!" She expressed to exclaim.

"Gert!" That was her mom, looking at her quite annoyed.

"What? I can't have a puppy, but you can open our house to every homeless kid in the neighborhood?" Gert retorted.

"OK, enough! We are not welcoming anybody else in the house but ..." Continued her dad.

"Thank God!" She cut him, relieved.

"But" her dad starts again, giving her a heavy glare, "Tomorrow we're taking you guys somewhere special, you'll see you're going to love it!"

Great, another surprise, she can't wait to see how terrible this one was going to be ...


	3. sunscreen.

Gert definitely hated surprises. Especially when they involved her parents taking her, and Chase, to a beach day that was their big surprise. Gert hated going into the ocean because you never knew on what you're going to walk. She hated having some dry sand sticking against her skin. She hated being around screaming kids who send water and sand everywhere when they run next to you. And most of it, she hated being in a swimsuit in public.

However, there was worse than being half naked in front of strangers for an entire day when you're already hung up about your body. While being red like a tomato because of the sun, with strangled hair full of salt and sand. The worst is doing it in front of your former friend/crush.

Gert hated her body. She didn't find herself pretty and still less sexy.

Wearing a swimsuit is her worst nightmare and doing it knowing that Chase Stein would be there too, she really wanted to die right now.

Gert was currently packing her things for the day. She took some solar cream, a beach towel (it was purple with some black ethnic motifs), her sunglasses, a book ("Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion, one of her favorite) but now she has to choose a swimsuit and she really doesn't know what to put on.

Maybe she should wear a one piece, she never liked her tummy, better hide it right?

She was currently searching in the drawer of her dresser where she stored her bathing suits when she saw it. It was a black swimsuit, two pieces. The panties were high side so that will hide her tummy. It was full black, but with some lace on the side on the panties and under the bra. There was also some of it on the suspenders. The top is gorgeous and it's almost like real lingerie, lifting her breast up and giving her the maintains she needed.

She bought this last year into a small boutique in Santa Monica, who sold hand-crafted lingerie and suits bath. She loved going into this place because the products were beautiful and from good quality. Plus, they sold all the size possible, so no body shaming there. OK the prices are super expensive, but it was handmade, and they used some good raw materials, so it was worth the price. And the ladies working there were super nice, so she preferred gave them her money that gave it to a large chain store. Which contributed to destroy the planet by producing too many clothes in China. Where they profited of the misery of workers by paying them almost nothing, to sell them all around the world.

Anyway. Gert decide to put this swimsuit on with a dark destroy denim short and a large AC/DC tank top. She put her flip flops on too and she was ready.

She headed downstairs to meet the rest of the house. Her dad was trying to fit the beach umbrella into the car while her mom was filling the cooler with water and fruits.

When Stacey finished packing enough food for them to survive a zombie apocalypse, and Dale finally succeed to stuff everything in the car (he always was a terrible Tetris player), Chase came downstairs, ready to leave.

He was wearing a navy blue swim short and a white T-shirt. Gert hadn't even though of this, but she was going to have to spend the day with a half-naked Chase. And sure he was a dick, but if she was honest with herself, Chase was hot. Like really hot. When they were kids she always found him cute. And now he is a man (physically not mentally, he is still six years old up there) with a well muscular body, thanks to lacrosse and workout. At least sport did something well for her eyes.

They got in the car and she immediately put her earphones on, listening to her classic rock playlist, like that she didn't have to speak with any other human being in this car. They drove to Venice Beach, it was only 20 minutes away from the house.

It was early in the morning so they weren't too many people on the beach for now. They found a good spot, in a quiet place. For now, they were alone here, but soon there will be more people.

Gert put her towel on the sand while Dale was struggling to open the beach umbrella. He finally succeeded and sat himself next to Stacey on the other side under the beach umbrella than her. Leaving just one spot for Chase: next to her.

He put his towel next to her, and started taking off his t-shirt, leaving Gert staring at his chest and abs.

"Enjoying the view?" He asked with a cocky smile on his face that bastard.

"If you're speaking of the beach, yes, if you're speaking of yourself, definitely not." She tried to sound harsh, but she was blushing.

He didn't stop smiling, like if he could tell she was lying.

"Going to the water, you're joining me?" He offered.

"Nope, I'm fine staying here."

"OK, as you want." And he started running to the water.

She decided to undress, staying in her bath suit, got up and started apply some solar cream on her legs.

"Muffin, your mom and I are going to see if we can find some seaweed to studies next to the rocks over here, we'll be back in a few minutes or hours, depends on what we found." Her dad said.

"If you, or Chase are hungry, there's food in this bag and in the cooler. Don't forget to hydrate yourself!" Added her mom.

Before she could have replied anything, they were already gone leaving her alone, but not for too long. Chase was already coming back from the water, his hair was as soaked as his swim short, and water was running down his chest. Jesus, why did he have to be so hot?

When he was only a few feet away, he suddenly stopped and starred at her from up to down, clearly blocking on her breast. She was still standing, applying some solar cream on her neck.

"Enjoying the view?" She didn't know what suddenly took her to have this courage, but she was smiling at him with the same cocky smile he gave her earlier. Then, she started applying solar cream on her chest, briefly passing on the part of her breast that wasn't underneath the swimsuit.

He swallowed and shook his head trying to get back to the real world.

"Nice bath suit." He complimented her, still having this weird expression in his eye, was that ... Desire? No way. It must have been the sun that was messing with her head. Or maybe some salt in his eyes.

"Thanks." She simply answered, red all over her face.

She finished putting cream on her arms and now she was desperately trying to do her shoulders and back, but she wasn't a contortionist, so it was kind of difficult.

"Need some help?" His voice was hoarse.

She swallowed. Usually, she asked her mom to do her back, but she had leave too soon for that and God knew when she was coming back. When her parents were doing research, they could lose any count of time, and stayed at this for hours.

And after what she read on skin illnesses, Gert didn't want to take any risks by staying under the sun without any solar protection. This is the only reason why she accepted, yeah you hear her, they were absolutely no other reasons.

"Liar, you want Chase's hands all over your skin, you weak and horny girl!" The voice inside her head was telling her. "Shut the fuck up!" She answered to it.

She rose her head meeting Chase's gaze again. He was still looking at her with the same look as earlier.

"If you offer ..." She handed him the solar cream bottle, and he almost jumped on it, almost.

He went behind her, and she heard him hold back a moan.

"Are you OK?" She asked surprised.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine ..." He stammered.

He must have been disgusted by her squishy ass, that's the only logical explanation.

"Can you put your hair away please? I don't want to put sunscreen on it." He said softly.

She takes her hair in her hands and quickly tied them up with one of the elastic she was always keeping at her wrist, into a ridiculous messy bun. It had to be even more horrible seeing from behind.

"Sure, don't want to make my ugly hairs even more horrible ..." She said harshly, remembering the day his friends told her how hideous they were.

"I find them beautiful, purple always was your favorite color." He replied casually.

"Really? Then, why didn't you tell that to your stupid friends the day they insult me?" She turned around, angrier than ever.

He looked at her painfully.

"Because I'm an idiot, remember? Or a brainless jockstrap? Don't know which nickname you rather use?" He told her sadly.

"Oh don't do that!" She exclaimed.

"Do what?" He asked, frowning his eyebrows.

"Put yourself in a victim position, when we both know, if there is anyone to blame here, it's you!" She stated.

He closed his eyes.

"You're right ..." He replied after a few seconds.

"Of course, I'm always right."

He started to laugh.

"Of course, you're always right." He said sweetly, smiling down at her.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, until he brought both of them back to the reality.

"So, do you still need sunscreen on your back?" He asked while showing her the bottle.

"Yes, of course." She turned her back to him.

He came closer to her, she could feel his breath next to her head.

"Watch out, must being cold ..." he whispered to her right ear, sending shivers all over her body.

She nodded and he started applying the cream on her shoulders, warming it with his big hands. He went to her neck, then down to her spine. He went back to her shoulders, massaging them a little under his fingers.

"Hum ..." She moaned when he passed on a tense spot.

He stopped immediately, but keep his hands-on her back.

"Are you OK? Did I hurt you?" He asked a little worried.

"No, no, I'm fine, it was just a tense spot so ..."

"Oh OK, I'll be careful."

He started applying some pressure under his fingers again. And Gert closed her eyes. God he was good with them. She couldn't stop herself to think about where else his fingers could be good ...

He finally goes to her lower back, and she swears she heard him groaned. After a few caress he stopped, to her displeasure.

"All done ..." he whispered to her ear again.

Fuck, he was so close, all she has to do to kisses him would be to turn around, and grabbed his lips with her ...

"Can you help me doing mine now?" He asked hoarsely.

"Su-sure ..." great she was stuttering now. Come on Gert focused!

She turned around and grabbed the bottle from his hand, brushing briefly her fingers with his. He smiled at her, ferociously and turned his back to her. She started applying product on his shoulder, up to his neck. Then, she went on his scapula's and his spine. She could feel every muscle of his back under her fingers. How did he manage to be so fit?

When she went to his lower back, she took her time massaging the muscle right above his shorts waistbands, taking a good glance at his ass at the same time. Damn, his ass was really hot! She brushed her thumbs against his shorts waistband and this time she clearly heard him moaned, snapping her back to reality.

She took off her hands from his dangerous body. Seriously there should be a warning there, like "Be careful with this man, his body can turn your brain into jelly and make your hand move on their own, you will no longer have control over them". Stupid teenage hormones! And stupid hands!

She cleared her throat.

"OK, all done." She said quickly.

Before he could have said something or turned back to her, she rushed on her towel, laying on her tummy and putting her sunglasses on.

He sat next to her silently and grabbed the sunscreen bottle to put some on the rest of his body. She couldn't dare to stare at this show so she grabbed her book and start to read it, trying to calm down her freaking hormones.

When he was over, he laid on his chest to, and Gert focused on her book to not be tempted to look at his gorgeous ass.

She was reading the same page for the fifth time when Stacey and Dale came back. Breaking off immediately the sexual tension that was floating in the air since she found herself left alone with Chase. Apparently their seaweed research was unsuccessful.

She spent the rest of the day trying to ignore Chase and his hot body, luckily it was easier with her parents around. She was so relieved when Dale took Chase with him to go make a sandcastle – she didn't know which one of them was the more childish about it, though.

After eating all the food Stacey brought here, they headed home when the sun was coming down, turning the sky as red as Gert's face was all day when she looked at Chase.

Stupid hormones ...


	4. lacrosse field.

Mondays sucks. Especially when you've got to go to school. In the same car as your former friend/crush that currently live in your house. Right after spending a day at the beach with him, putting some sunscreen on his perfect back. After their beach day, she tried her best to avoid Chase when it was possible, and it's really difficult when you're living in the same house.

This morning she got to deal with the most ashamed moment of her life: Chase knocked on her door to tell her she forgot some of her clothes in the washing machine and it ended up with his ... She didn't forget a t-shirt or a sock. No, that would have been too simple. She forgot a freaking pantie! And not a sexy one, nope, one of her ugly one, a pink cotton pantie with some little dinosaurs all over it. Gosh, she'll never be able to forget the smirk on Chase's face when he handed her the pantie back. She slammed the door at his face and told him to go mind his own business. He just laughed and left, but during the breakfast he kept making funny face at her. And she replied by giving him the finger, when her parents weren't looking.

This cohabitation was going to be a real nightmare. The only good point in her house, is that every room has their own bathroom, so she didn't have to fall on a wet Chase coming out of the shower. With just a tiny towel on his hips that could so easily fell on the ground, leaving him completely ... Gert! Focus! Damn, she really needs to give herself an orgasm before her hormones take down what's left of her brain.

Nope bad idea. Masturbating is too dangerous with Chase in the same house, who know what could happen. What if he walks on her in the middle of taking care of herself? Maybe he will offer to help with his big hands and ...

Stop! See, definitely a bad idea, he might not walk on you, but he surely would be in your mind, no matter how hard you try to think about anything else.

Anyway, let's go back on earth.

Chase was living in her house now and it was a real nightmare, so she decided to try her best to avoid him for the rest of the year.

Stil, today she was supposed to arrive to school in the same car as him, her parents dropping them off. She was terrified because she knew at the second Stacey and Dale will leave them, Chase would go back to ignore her.

She gets out of the car, fully stressed. Chase was behind her, he closes the door and waved his hand to Stacey and Dale, smiling, when their car left the school.

He turned back to her, still smiling.

They stared at each other's, not knowing what to do, awkward silence was back.

"So ... I need to go to my locker before homeroom ... I see you later!" She ran before he could answer that was her new specialty. However, she preferred running from him before he ditched her in front of his stupid friends, making fun of her.

There were 15 minutes left before the homeroom so she decided to stop by the library to talk with Helena, the school librarian and Gert's only friend.

When you're the school justice warrior, people doesn't really like hanging out with you. They signed your petitions if the subject interested them. Still, most of the time, Gert had to be a pain in the neck to everyone if she wanted to change things in this school. And people like her aren't many in a California private school so basically Helena was her only friend here since the band had collapsed two years ago.

Yeah she knows, this is sad, even tragic. The only friend she had there was a 25 school's librarian. However, Helena was nice with her, always saving her the new books that she knew Gert was going to adore.

She entered the library, feeling like home in here. Helena was drinking her tea at the reception desk when she saw her.

"Hey Gert, I just received _"The Princess Saves Herself In This One"_ from Amanda Lovelace if you want? I also have the original version of _"Le Deuxième Sexe"_ from Simone de Beauvoir if you want to try to read it in French?" offered Helena.

"I'd love to for Lovelace, and I could try for Beauvoir, but I'm not sure it's going to end well, I always was better in Spanish than French ..."

"Don't worry, if you have any translation question you can ask me, you know? You can even text me if you needed to!"

"Aren't the school personal supposed to not give their personal number to the students?" Joked Gert.

"Well aren't the school students supposed to ask their friends to go with them to a book exposition and not the school librarian?" Helena replied, on the same tone.

"Touché ..." Gert admitted.

"See, you can speak French when you want to!"

"Ha-ha very funny, anyway give me the books, I think I'm definitely going to need them to occupy my mind ..." Gert said, thinking about what, was happening into her life lately.

"Sure, here, what's going on?" Helena said while passing her the books.

"You mean other than the fact that you're my only friend in this school and that it kind of suck?"

"Hey! You shouldn't offend your only friend, you know!" Helena laughed.

"Right, sorry! This wasn't what I mean ..." Gert apologized.

"I know, don't worry, so what's wrong?"

Gert sighed.

"Well to sum it up I have to cohabit with a former friend that I didn't talk with for two years."

"Oh that suck ..."

"Yeah and he also is going in Atlas Academy so I have to see him every day at home and at school ..."

"Ouch ... Do I know him?"

"Probably not, his name is Chase Stein, he's in the lacrosse team and he hangs out with all the jocks jam of the team plus Eiffel's pathetic dancing crew ... I'm pretty sure he never put one foot in the library." Gert laughed.

"Yeah I never heard of him before. So he's hanging out with all the people you hate the most in this school?"

"Yep, my worst nightmare coming true ... Did I mention that I used to have a crush on him?"

"No you didn't! Oh my God! OK you know this could totally be the scenario of a Netflix series right?"

"Well I'm pretty sure a Netflix's TV show based on my life would be boring as fuck, but sure ..."

"Don't be so harsh on yourself!" Helena reprimanded her.

"Yeah I know ... OK I have to go to homeroom, I see you at lunch?"

"Sure! But, you know, if you wanted other friends that I; then you definitely shouldn't eat in the library almost every day ..."

"Shut up!" Gert replied jokingly. She was feeling a little better now. Talking with Helena always cheer her up.

When she entered in homeroom Chase was already there. He gave her a quick smile before turning back to his tablet. Gert went to her place which was on the table behind him and no she hadn't chosen this place at the beginning of the year just to stare at his ass, nope. It's not her fault if they have to stand during the homeroom, well never mind, it's technically her fault because she passed this petition over the school to make them stand up at least one hour a day because sitting is the new cancer. So now she had a full view on Chase's ass when he was leaning on his table, yep she definitely was a genius.

When homeroom was over, Chase hurried to get out, meeting his lacrosse friends Brandon and Lucas. These two were the worst of the worst. And Gert goes to her History class. The good thing was that she didn't have a lot of courses in common with Chase because she mostly was into advanced courses and Chase not. She actually shares a lot of courses with another former friend of them: Alex.

Alex always was the smartest of them, but if you asked her she will deny it. And say that it was sexist to believe a man is obviously smarter than a woman. Even if indeed Alex was smarter than her. They talked sometimes about the last school project or books, but it was always small talk, after all, they aren't friends anymore.

The morning passed pretty fast. At lunch Gert went to the cafeteria, ordered a vegan salad and went back to the library. Helena made her some room behind the reception desk and they ate together.

"So, I was thinking about creating a new club." Gert said.

"Cool, about what?"

"Undermining the patriarchy. Like that I could do something that I like and meet some people that are interested in the same things as me. Plus, it's always look good on a résumé when you want to apply to university."

"Sure, need some help with that?"

"Well could I use the library printer to print my flyers?" Gert was trying her best to give Helena a lost puppy eye look.

"Fine, but stop doing this, it looks like you are about to be sick" Helena was laughing.

"Thank you so much! I was thinking about this for some time, so I already worked on the flyers design, do you want to see them?"

Helena agreed and Gert showed her what she had done on her tablet. After some corrections, they agreed to say it was cool enough and Helena promised her to print some flyers this afternoon for her.

Gert went to her afternoon classes and soon she had finished her day, but she was supposed to stay a little bit because Chase had lacrosse practice. And her parents were coming to pick them up after. She stopped at the library to pick her flyers printed on recycling paper - another thing that Gert's petitions brought to this school. She did her homework and when she was done she decided to go to the lacrosse field, waiting for Chase to finish his practice.

It was already over when she got there and the players were heading to the changing room. The dancing squad was there too and obviously Eiffel wasn't happy to see Gert here.

"Hey loser, the field is only for the squad, if you want to do some lacrosse player's staring come back another day, we've got too much work to do!" Eiffel screamed to her from across the field.

That brought all the lacrosse player attention to her, including Chase's one.

"Sorry Eiffel I'm sure your patriarchal choreography is essential to the world survival ..." Gert replied rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me? Who the fuck are you anyway? Are you even going to this school?"

"Are you serious? We're in the same school since 6th grade!"

"Oh so you're stalking me since then, is that why you're here?"

"No! I was waiting for Chase; my parents bring us home"

Eiffel started to laughed.

"Yeah of course, did you hear that Chase? Stalker here want to bring you home with her."

Gert turn to Chase, expecting some support here, but all he could manage was some incoherent stuttering.

"You didn't tell your friends you were staying at my place?" She asked confused.

Eiffel laughed even more, followed by some lacrosse players.

"Well, well Stein, you didn't tell us you were moving in with your new girlfriend ... Are you two already a happy and married couple?" That was Brandon, king of assholes.

"Well thanks for your concern, but marriage is a dictate of society which has oppressed and still oppresses women today. It simply serves to make morons like your feel superior when they put a ring on a woman's finger, thinking that this will make her their possessions and assert their masculinity." Gert replied bitterly.

Chase was still zoned out and she clearly couldn't count on him to back her up. Not that she needed him, he never was there for her the last two years, so.

"What did you just say?"

"Sorry I should have guessed that you would not understand a sentence containing a subject, a verb and a complement ..."

Brandon was clearly angry now, coming closer to her probably to scare her or punch her who knows. Chase got in his way, suddenly back on earth, stopping him.

"You're defending her? Seriously?" Brandon hissed.

“She’s telling the truth, I'm staying at her place because my parents are away, and for the part where you don’t understand her words, well we both know you got terrible grades in English so …” Replied Chase.

Brandon couldn’t answer, coach Alphona came to the field and ordered them to go inside the changing room. Gert decided to go to the parking lot to wait for her parents because clearly the field wasn’t a good place to stay for her. 

Was she dreaming or did Chase Stein actually stand against his friends for the first time?

She should check the weather, maybe it’s going to snow tomorrow …


	5. shiny armor

The ride home was silence in the back of the car. Only Stacey and Dale were singing to their CD of _"Phish Live from the Gorge '99."_ When they arrived home, Chase went straight to his room and Gert did the same. On one side she was happy than he finally stood up against Brandon. On the other side, she didn't know what to do with the fact that he didn't tell his friends he was staying at her place for the rest of the year.

Was he really that stupid? How did he plan to spend the next nine months without his friends noticing that he wasn't living in his house anymore?

Gert stayed in her room until dinner. Stacey and Dale did all the talking during it, Chase and her only responding to the questions they were asking them. They cleared the table and disappeared to their respective room right after.

Gert was reading the Amanda Lovelace's book Helena lends her earlier today when someone knocked to her door.

"Come in." She simply said without moving from her bed thinking it was her mom or her dad.

Except, it was Chase.

"Hi, ca-can we talk?"

"What, you want to break up with me? Just after we got married, what a shame ..." she replied ironically.

"Yeah, this is what I wanted to talk about ..."

"Marriage?"

"No dummy!" He said laughing. "About what happened on the field ..."

"Well sorry if I told your secret to all your friends, I just thought they'll know where you are living ..."

"I didn't tell them about this because ..."

"You were ashamed to stay at my place. It's OK I get it." She cut him off.

"No! Absolutely not!" He replied immediately, sitting down on the bed next to her legs. "I didn't tell them because ... They're not real friends. None of them never came to my house so I figure out there was no point to tell them where I lived."

"Oh really? Do you never invite any of them into your house?"

"Nope."

"Even Eiffel?"

It wasn't a secret that the two of them have been dating or whatever they were doing together, latterly. So Gert found it strange that Chase never invite her into his house, neither introduce her to his parents.

"Especially Eiffel! This girl is more interested in her Instagram feed than the real world anyway ... I could have told her where I live that she wouldn't even have heard it. She's not a very good listener when the main subject isn't her."

"Don't be so hard on her, you've got an amazing swimming pool with the best view of Brentwood, perfect for Insta pictures, so she would have cared about this."

Chase laughed.

"Right, almost forgot."

"Ah the poor white privilege Brentwood boy who forgot his giant swimming pool ... Life must have complicated for you isn't it?"

"You have no ideas..." he was smiling at her, a real smile. She hadn't seen him smile like this for so long.

There was a small silence, but a comfortable one.

"What are you reading?" He asked gesturing his head toward the book that was still between her hands.

"It's _"The Princess Saves Herself In This One"_ from Amanda Lovelace, a collection of poem."

"Cool title."

"It's a cool book too you know."

"Maybe you could lend it to me when you finish it?"

"Since when do you read poems?"

"I'm a man full of surprises you know ..."

"Yeah sure." They both laughed.

He suddenly stopped, coming back to reality.

"I'm sorry I didn't immediately stand up for you when Eiffel started bothering you ... I ... Guess my dad was right when he said I'm weak ..." He said softly closing his eyes.

Gert knew Victor Stein was severe and demanding – well to be less polite he was a real dick, but that's only Gert's opinion ... Still, she felt bad thinking of Chase being called "weak" by his own father. Parents are supposed to help you rise, not crushing you on the ground with bad esteem and mean words.

Except, Gert was pissed at Chase for his behavior the last couple of years, plus her feminism was taking over her compassion, so she replied: "Well thank you, but I don't need a valiant knight in a shiny armor to defend me."

Chase started to laugh.

"Yeah I kind of notice that when you replied to Eiffel and even more to Brandon, that was epic. Maybe he was the one who needs a knight to save him after all?"

Gert joint him into the laughing.

"His face would be magical if you ever offered him to be his savior."

"I'm sure he would be falling under my spell; no one can resist to me in an armor ..."

Gert gave him a desperate glance.

"What? It's true!"

"Yeah sure, glad to hear you already picked you next Halloween costume. Let me just warn the population in order to avoid any riot or unrest ..."

"Ha-ha very funny".

They were both laughing together, like old times, when they were still friends. Gert regained herself and looked at him in the eyes.

"Why ... No never mind..."

"No go ahead! What did you want to ask?"

Why do you left me alone after one of our friends decided to run away and all the rest of our friends decided to abandon us too?

"Why are you still on my bed? Seriously I would like to finish this book before tomorrow, come on get out of my private space! My room is all I have left, you already invade the rest of the house with your proteins powder and dumbbells ..."

"Sure sorry." He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

He got up to leave her room.

"Good night Gert." He said when he was in front of her door.

"Good night Chase." He smiled at her again and leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Stacey and Dale dropped them to school this morning, Chase went to meet his "friends". Gert wasn't sure if that's what they should be called, but if Chase kept staying with them, they must have been his friends after all.

Gert went into the school yard and started distributing her flyers to everyone there. She hadn't told Chase about her club, it wasn't like he was going to join it anyway. Yeah that will be funny to see: Chase Stein undermining the patriarchy.

When she was near some student's lockers, she saw Karolina headed to hers. She opened it and a bunch of bulbs fall from it, crushing on the ground.

"Oh cool." She laughed ironically. "I'm the light, OK I get it! Very funny!"

Gert come closer to her.

"Or they're persecuted you for your religious believes, so not funny." Gert said to Karolina trying to be nice with her.

"You used to say that the Gibborim wasn't a religious."

"Fair point, but the bulbs things are mean. And I'm sorry about that."

Karolina stared at all the broken bulbs on the floor in front of her.

"We can't blame them for not knowing what they don't know."

"Well, that's actually called ignorance and it's totally OK to blame them for it." Replied Gert.

She stared at the flyers she still had between her hands. Maybe Karolina would be interested? OK, she was not the type to get up and start a revolution to undermining the patriarchy, but she was bullied today, so maybe she wants to fight against the bullies?

Karolina and her, weren't friends anymore and actually they never really were because Gert kept saying mean things to her every time she saw Chase looking at the blonde girl with heart eyes. She knew, she was stupid. Jealousy is a bitch ok?

So why not asked Karolina to join her club as a peace offer? Plus, Gert needed four members for the club to be officially recognized by the school and seeing how her flyers distribution goes this morning, she’s not sure she’s going to have them ...

"Hey, I'm actually starting this club on campus. Undermining the patriarchy. I could add this incident to the agenda ..."

"I've got to find the janitor to clean all this." Karolina cut her, leaving the corridor.

"Right, no I totally get it. Who would want to hang out with intelligent and confident women, challenging institutional power structures, so boring." She answered even if she knew Karolina was already gone and couldn't hear her.

Looked like the peace offering didn't work ... That was OK, really, what was she's thinking about anyway? That they were all going to make peace and be friends again, like nothing happened this past two years? Nope, it was a dumb idea. She already had to talk to Chase because he is currently living in her house that was enough for her.

Gert headed to the homeroom early, she wanted to talk to Miss Pearson, asking her if she could do a presentation for her club. Who knew, maybe this way some students will be interested into joining it. Miss Pearson agreed and tell her to do that tomorrow, which was perfect, she will have enough time to prepare it.

This morning she had an English and Literature class with Alex and their teacher asked them to pair up for doing an analyses exercise about "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. Gert teamed up with him, maybe they weren't friends anymore, but at least they could help each other to get a good grade.

"So, I saw you arrived with Chase this morning ..." Started Alex.

"Oh, yeah, he is living in my house until the end of the year."

"Really?"

"Yeah, his parents are in New York for the rest of the year." She didn't tell him about Victor being sick because that's Chase private's life not hers. Plus, she didn't really know what his father had, she didn't even get the chance to talk about it since he moved in (probably because she spendt her time avoiding Chase ...).

"Oh I didn't know ..."

"Well that's probably because, you know, we're not friends anymore."

"Of course, plus Chase never carried me in his heart even when we were "friends" so ..."

"That's not true!"

"Oh yes it is. He kept making fun of me all the time, I'm pretty sure he was already calling me a loser back then."

"That's nonsense, Chase ..."

"Oh come on Gert, don't always take his defense, maybe you never saw it because you were too busy being rough to Karolina?" He cut her off.

She sighed and get back to their exercises. Alex had a point, but first it would kill her to admit it and second she hated being cutting off.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to upset you ..."

"It's OK, but I'm not always taking his defense, OK?!"

"Sure." Alex agreed, rolling his eyes. "So, how is the cohabitation going on?"

"Great, it's so lovely to find lacrosse equipment all over the house, and my kitchen is full of protein powder, so guess if there is a shortage, I am prepared. At least I should be happy to fall on Chase's lacrosse helmet in my living room and not his jockstrap ..."

Alex giggled and she followed him. They finished their exercises and soon the courses were over. She decided to eat lunch in the cafeteria for once, even if that's mean eating alone, this way she could manage to distribute flyers to the students in the cafeteria. She was taking the stairs to the lunch area when she saw Eiffel and Chase.

Or more precisely she saw Eiffel sharing her tongue with Chase. She shouldn't be surprised; she knew the two of them were a thing, but still it hurt like a bitch.

Plus, she really didn't know what to think of him anymore. When he was with her at home it was like the kid he used to be was still there, but in school he immediately got back to being an idiot every time his "friends" were around.

And people says girls are complicated ...


	6. club.

"We hear so much lip service about women's empowerment, as if women aren't already powerful, but I mean, do you ever heard anyone talking about masculine authority? Of course not! Because it's already baked into the concept, am I right?"

Students in homeroom weren't even paying attention to Gert's speech. She wasn't surprised that no one answered her question.

"My point is that the system need to be dismantled, which is why I'm starting a new club on campus, undermining the patriarchy. We can celebrate our self-worth while taking down the man!"

Still no reaction from the audience. Most of them weren't even looking at her, eyes glued to their tablets.

"I only need four members for the club to be officially recognized by the school, so ..."

OK, definitely not a success.

"Gert has prepared some literature, so just raise your hand if you're interested, and she will sign you up." Miss Pearson told the students.

No one raised a hand, but Gert saw Chase turning himself around the room to look if anyone was interested. Why would he care?

"You have until the bell to first period." Added Miss Pearson while Gert went back to her place.

Chase turned to her.

"You didn't tell me you were starting a new club." He whispered.

She looked at him confused.

"I didn't know I was supposed to tell you ... I thought that undermining the patriarchy wasn't really your thing."

"Well of course, I'm not a powerful and intelligent woman so I'm not who you expected in your club, isn't that some kinds of discrimination?" He asked cockily.

Gert huffed; that bastard!

"Are you using my own medicine against me Stein?" She replied, giving him some dark eyes while leaning closer to him on her table.

"Maybe ... Are you proud of me? Are you horrified? Are you super horny?" He leaned too, they were only a few inches away now, the table between them.

That bastard was smiling more than a child on a Christmas morning. Gert bit her lips. If he wanted to play, they could be two playing that game.

"So, did I sign you up, for the club I mean?"

"As long as it didn't interfere with my lacrosse training, sure no problem."

Well that was unexpected, she really couldn't visualize Chase Stein militating to undermine the patriarchy. He was joking, right? This must be some kinds of prank. Was he recorded it?

Gert handed him the registration paper and a pen. He took it and signed, not losing his cocking smile all along. He had stopped looking at her for signing the paper, but now his eyes were back on hers. They started a gaze duel and she was sure she was about to win when Alex cut them off.

"You're joining Gert's club?" He asked, surprised.

He was standing next to them now. Chase tore off his gaze from her, and looked at him really pissed.

"Why do you care Wilder?" His tone was harsh.

"It's just, I didn't know you care about undermining the patriarchy, but that's a cool thing that the two of you are reconnecting again."

"We're not!" She cut him off.

"Right, you're just living in the same house and going in the same club, pretty convenient for the meetings through."

"Wait, you guys are living together?!" It was Karolina, she approached to their tables too.

Great, just missing her. So, when it was about her presentation, no one was paying attention, but for Chase's new home, everyone listened?

"Yeah, he's staying at Gert's until the end of school year." Added Alex.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Chase exclaimed.

"Gert told me, in English, yesterday."

"Why did you do that?!" He looked at her pissed off.

"Oh sorry, I forgot this was a federal secret that I should not share with the rest of the school ..." Her voice was bitter.

Chase seemed to realize he just had pissed her off – again – because she saw a surprised look in his eyes.

"No, this is not what I meant! I was wondering since when the two of you were chatting in courses, I didn't know you were still close ..."

"We're not, we shared a lot of courses and sometimes we chatted a little about homework or ... You know what, never mind. This is none of your business. You ghosted me for two years and now you are expecting me to justify to you who I'm talking to? Big nerves on that Stein, I don't own you anything!" She was truly angry now; that boy had some nerves!

"No, it's not ... I just ..." Great he was stuttering again.

"Some things never change ..." Interrupted Alex.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She looked at him with dark eyes.

"You know, the two of you arguing like an old married couple, this was always this way with you guys."

"Why do you care Wilder, are you jealous?"

That was Chase, what was wrong with him?

"OK you know what, I'm done." She grabbed her stuff to get out of the room, the hour was almost over anyway.

"Wait!" Chase stopped her, grabbing her arm.

She looked at his hand on her arm, then at his face. He must have understood this wasn't a great idea because he immediately let go of her.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "I didn't want to upset you. I just ..." He was cut off by the bell ringing.

"Looks like you're saving by the bell." She said ironically.

She rushed to the exit, before he could catch her. She was really upset right now. How dare he acted like that with her? What a moron!

Gert spent the rest of the day avoiding Chase – she was becoming a master in this by the way. She went to the library for lunch where she knew for sure, she wasn't going to see him there. Helena was sorting the pile of return books when she saw the look at Gert's face.

"Wow, what happened to you? You look like you're about to kill someone, I hope it isn't me, you're not going to kill your only friend in here, right?"

Gert started to laughed, a little bit more relaxed.

"No, but Stein might not make it through the day ..."

"Trouble in paradise?"

"He is an idiot, OK?! I mean, he is the one who stopped talking to me, two years ago, it wasn't my decision. And now he came back into my life, like a flower and I should pretend nothing happened? He spent days with his assholes friends, staying quiet when they were insulting me, pretending to not saw it, and all of a sudden he decides to play double-sided? And does he think that's give him the right to interfere in my life?"

"OK, you definitely need a herbal tea, I have a mix for relaxation, let me prepared you that."

Gert took a deep breath.

"Thank you." She simply answered.

After a big cup of warm tea, Gert felt a little bit better. She chitchatted with Helena for the rest of break, they talked about books. And Gert was happy to let her mind escaped for some minutes from all the problems that were going on in her like – by all the problem you can understand Chase Stein as her only big problem of course.

She went to the bathroom before her first afternoon courses. When she entered the room, she heard some gaps coming from one of the cabin. And no, it wasn't this type of gasp, more like someone in pain. She approached to the only locked door and knocked.

"Everything is OK in there?" She asked nicely.

If someone was hurt, she better took her – or him because it was some gender neutral bathroom thanks to one of her petition, meaning everyone was welcome there – to the infirmary.

"Ye-yeah, I'm OK ..." She recognized this voice, it was Molly.

"Molly? Is that you? This is Gert, are you OK?"

"Gert? I ... Uh ... This is embarrassing ..."

"What's going on? Come on, you can tell me everything, you know?"

Gert always considered Molly as the little sister of the group. Even if they were not hanging out like old times, Gert will always be there for her. After all, Molly didn't really ditch them. She stayed with kids of her age at school, but if she crossed one of her old friends, she was not going to ignore him or her. Every time Gert saw Molly, she always said "hello" to her, and asked her how she was doing. Usually they even did some small talk.

That wasn't like Chase ... _No Gert, don't bring him back in there, now focused on Molly, she's what matter now!_

Molly opened the bathroom's door, her face was full of tears.

"I ... I had my first monthlies today ..."

"This is great Molls! I know this hurt, but there is nothing wrong about menstruation trust me. And never let anyone make you believe there is something disgusting about this, especially if it's a boy. I know some breathing exercise if you want to. And we can go to the nurse, if you need some painkiller?"

"That's nice Gert, but the problem is, I have a big stain on my pants and underwear ... And I don't have any other clothes to change to ..."

"Oh, don't worry, we're going to figure this out. Stay here, I'm going to look for something, I'll be right back. Do you need a sanitary napkin too?"

"Yes, please."

Gert was starting to leave when Molly hold her back.

"Gert?"

She turned to her.

"Thank you." She said softly.

Gert smiled at her.

"No problems Molls:"

Gert headed to the corridors, she needed to find some clothes for Molly, but unfortunately she didn't have any in her locker ... Shit, she had an idea, but ... Fuck.

She was running toward the stairs of building "A". He was there, as usual, surrounding by all the lacrosse team and the school dance squad. Eiffel was talking to him and it looked like he wasn't paying too much attention, when he saw her. He got up immediately and come to meet her, while Eiffel sharp voice was screaming on him to pay attention to her.

"Gert, I'm ..."

"I don't care!" She cut him. "Look, I need a spare pair of pants and panties, and I know the dance squad keep some of them in the gymnasium so, can you ask your girlfriend? Maybe don't tell her this is for me, she doesn't really carry me inside her heart ..."

"Sure, but ..."

"Cool, meet me at the gender neutral bathroom when you have them!"

She ran to her locker to get Molly a pad and went back to the bathroom. She entered and knocked on the toilet’s door.

"Molls, it's me, here the pad, clothes are coming on their ways:"

"Thanks Gert."

Chase entered the bathroom a few minutes later, arms full of clothes.

"You know I only ask for a legging and a pantie, not Eiffel's entire ward robe."

"I didn't know what size to take so I asked for one of each they have."

"Thanks."

She grabbed a "S" sized legging and handed it to Molly through the space under the cabin.

"Do you think it will do?"

"Yes, thanks."

She takes the panties of the same size from Chase hand and urged him out of the bathroom.

"But ..."

"Girl talk, leave now!"

"OK, OK ..." He capitulated. "I'll bring this to the gymnasium." He added, showing the non-used clothes in his hands.

When he left, she passed the panties to Molly and explained to her how to put the pad on it. She waited for her to change near the bathroom sinks. When she finished, Molly got out of the toilet. Gert gave her another pad in case she needed one and answered every question the young girl had about menstruation. When the bell rang, they both headed to the door to leave, but before, Molly hugged her really tight.

"Thank you so much Gert, I don't do what I will have done without you today, I own you."

"You own me nothing, female solidarity, right?"

Molly nodded, smiling.

OK, maybe this smile was worth having to ask Chase to bring her panties and meet her in the school bathroom.

God that was going to be an embarrassing ride home again ...


	7. poems.

“So, you asked him for a pantie, and then you told him to meet you into the gender neutral bathroom?” Helena was staring at her with a confused look.

Gert simply nodded.

“And after that, you just ditch him away, again, without an explanation?” She insisted on the “again”.

Gert sighed. She was currently hiding in the library, her parents are supposed to pick her up soon, but they texted her to say that traffic was a bitch – as usual in L.A. – and they’re going to be a few minutes late. So, to spared her some awkward discussion with Chase, she had rushed to the school library to hide.

“Don’t say this like it was mean of me! The guy was a total dick, again, this morning in homeroom with me, remember? I had all the right to shove him off!” She insisted on the “again” too.

Helena looked at her raising her eyebrows, telling her silently: “Really?”.

“What?! He’s a moron, OK?”

“Yeah, a moron who rushed to helped you the second you asked him to …”

“Oh no, don’t, not you please, what about your feminist side?”

“Hey! I’m not telling you to jump in his arms because he was a brave prince charming, I’m aware they do not exist, OK? I’m just saying, he was there for you when you needed it. And he didn’t even ask questions about why you needed some clothes, or why meeting you in the bathroom.”

“Well, I didn’t really leave him time for that, so …”

They laughed. Gert was about to ask her some advice about how to avoid someone you live with for almost a year, when somebody opened the door of the library. It was Chase, he looked around the place, clearly not in his element, and when his eyes landed on her, he smiles.

“Yo, Gert!”

“Yo, yourself.” She replied.

Damn, why does she have to be so weird every time he was around?! He gives him an amused look, and she clearly saw Helena holding back a laugh, biting her lips. Chase come to join them near the reception desk which was their meeting spot – well technically Helena was supposed to stay here often, in case a student comes in and needed to ask her something, so they simply stayed here 90% of the time.

“Good afternoon, I’m Chase Stein.” He introduced himself to Helena.

“Good afternoon Chase, I’m Miss Barnes, the school librarian, but you can call me Helena.” She smiled at him politely.

Chase returned her a smile, before he turned to Gert.

“Your parents are here. They’re waiting for us in the parking lot. They wanted to texted you, but I told them I was going to look for you.”

“Oh, OK, let me just grab my stuff.” She said while taking her bag into her hands.

Helena stopped her, telling her she had another new book for her: _Lilac Girls_ by Martha Hall Kelly. It was a novel inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, who reveals the power of unsung women to change history in their quest for love, freedom, and second chances. So, yeah, Gert is going to love it. Helena left them alone for a few minutes, to go grab the book in the library reserve.

“How did you know I was there?” Gert asked to Chase.

“Well, you spend most of your time in here, so …”

“How do you know that?” She gave him a suspicious look.

“I always saw you coming in for lunch and before or after school.”

“Are you following me? Like some kinds of creepy stalking, as in serial killer type of stalking?”

He huffed.

“Shit, you just discovered my secret: I spend my day following you from behind, when you turn around I hide in a dark corner and pray for you to not uncover me. And when you’re away, I spend every second thinking about you … I mean about how I could kidnap you to torture you until death. You know, just serial-killer daily.” He shrugged and give her a smile.

“So this is why you move inside my house, to be closer of your prey? I should probably put a lock on my door …”

“Yeah, good idea, it’s so easy to sneak into your room and watch you sleep …”

She gave him a scared look.

“OK, maybe we should stop this now.”

“Yeah, right, sorry. And I don’t do that, you know? Coming into your room at night? And thinking about killing you too, of course!” He justified himself.

“Thanks, that’s a relieved to know we’re not hosting Ted Bundy into our house. I’ll keep my pepper spray under my pillow through. Just in case.”

“All right suit yourself, but I’m sure your spray can won’t make the weight against these biceps.” He said showing up him muscular arm, stretching it.

Why does he have to wear a t-shirt right now that was showing off perfectly his (indeed) muscular bicep? Gert swallowed and stared at his arm for a few seconds, then quickly regain herself, but not fast enough for Chase to not notice, he had a proud smile on his lips. Luckily, Helena came back from the reserve with the book and lend it to Gert.

“Thanks Helena, I’ll bring it back as soon as I finished it, like the others.”

“Don’t worry, students didn’t rush on books these days, and especially not the books that aren’t on the program, so take your time.”

“Ah the new generation that prefers to rot themselves with a screen rather than open a book ... What happened to reading for fun?” Gert said trying to sound dramatic.

“Totally agree with you, our future is lost if it rest between their hands ...” That was Chase.

Gert stared at him surprised.

“You know you are part of them, right?” Gert retorted.

“Hey! I don’t spend my day glue to a screen! I do sports, I tinker, I read books … OK, maybe not every day for the books, but I try.”

“Of course, but assigned school’s books don’t count you know? If you are forced to read them and doesn’t enjoy it, this isn’t reading for fun.”

“It can be both, you can start a book for school and enjoy it. Oh that’s remind me! I have a project in English, we have to do a presentation about a strong personality from the world of poetry. Do you have any books recommendation for that?” He asked Helena.

“Well that depend on what type of poet you want to write about?”

“Most of the student are choosing the most famous, like Allan Poe, but I would like to do something different. I would like to pick a woman maybe, and show them poetess were present too and were as good as the man, if it’s not better.”

Helena told him to stay here, and went to get some book into the poetry section of the library.

OK, Gert just had a tiny orgasm right now. Shit, hearing this from Chase was … God she needed to come to her senses. She must have been staring at him with some strange look because he started to justified himself.

“What? Don’t look at me like that! You should be proud. This is all from your good influence on me!”

“Yeah, right.” She laughed. “What would you be without me?”

“Clearly, nothing.” He replied and for a moment, Gert wished he was sincere.

He locked his eyes with hers. She gulped. She hated it when he was looking at her like that. Making her feel so vulnerable. But once again, Helena saved her by coming back, this time faster than before – although Gert is pretty sure she took all her time on purpose when she was in the reserve, just to leave them alone, that traitor.

“OK, here it is. I found the perfect match for you: Gertrude Stein!”

Gert choked on her own saliva and Chase eyes went wide.

“You okay?” Helena asked her with a proud look in her eyes.

That bitch! She totally picked this poetess on purpose! Gert nodded and told her to keep going.

“You told me you want a woman, and usually student picked Emily Dickinson for that. But you also said you didn’t want to do the most famous, so I figured out Gertrude Stein was a good choice.”

Can she please stop telling that name? This is so embarrassing … Gert remember the first time she heard about Gertrude Stein, a born in America Jewish lesbian poetess that spend most of her life in France. She lived during the first and second World War.

She found one of her poem in 6th grade and she was stunned by her writing - a little less by her collaboration with the Vichy regime, but that's something she discover later. But also much troubled by her name which was a mix of her first name and Chase’s last name. She blushed when she saw it and started thinking about what it would be to have Chase’s last name. Don’t judge her, OK? She was a weak loving teenage girl back then …

When they had study one of her poem in 8th grade, Nico, Alex, Karolina, Chase and her were in the same English class. She remembered how the three others started to laughed every time they heard the teacher said the writer name. Gert’s cheeks were red and she couldn’t look at Chase – which was complicated because he was sitting next to her.

After this class, the others teased the two of them for a week with this. Nico, Karolina and Alex kept telling Chase to do a proposal, this way Gert could officially become Gertrude Stein too. 

Even Molly and Amy made fun of this – because of course, the others told them the second the class was over. Molly offered to be Gert’s maid of honor and Amy said they should wait for the spring to have a beautiful ceremony under cherry blossoms from Alex’s garden.

Gert always blushed every time someone mentioned her marrying Chase, and felt incredibly uncomfortable. She always made sure to not crossed Chase eyes when the others were teasing them, it would have been worse. She started to avoid him a little because every time they were left alone, the others teased them even more. So she didn’t really know what Chase thought of all this until he went crazy about it one day.

It was after a week of wedding jokes; Chase went into a big rage one day. Alex was asking them if they rather had a DJ or a group for the wedding party, and Chase told him to shut the fuck up. He screamed for one minute straight, telling them they were immature and not funny, and to stop doing this. She never saw him like this before, he looked so angry and kind of scary too – well as scary as a 14-year-old can be. No one ever mention Gertrude Stein or Chase and her getting married ever again after that.

Gert felt relive on one side, but on another side, she kind of felt heartbroken to know that it was pissing off Chase that much to be teased about marrying her.

“You can bring it back whenever you what, don’t worry.” That was Helena,

While Gert was in her memories, the librarian had talk with Chase about Gertrude Stein’s work. He thanked her and grab the book and they said goodbye. Then, the two of them headed to the exit to meet Gert’s parent that must have been waiting for them for too long. On the walk to the parking lot, Chase tried to talk with her.

“About what happened today …” He started.

“You’ve got to be more specific, this morning in homeroom when we were arguing like an old married couple to quote Alex? Or this afternoon when I asked you to bring me some panties and meet me in the school bathroom? Or right now, when my not-anymore friend bring you a book about Gertrude Stein, reviving all the memories of 8th grade when the others were teasing us about getting married?”

Chase laughed.

“Yeah it was a crazy day … Look, I’m sorry for what I said in homeroom this morning. I was a total douche.” He said sincerely. 

“Yes, you were.” She sighed. “But you also helped me with Molly’s problem at lunch, so … Guess we’re even?”

He gave her a bright smile and agreed.

“I’m sorry Helena bright Gertrude Stein on the table …” Added Gert. “I know you used to hate it when the other were teasing us about this in 8th grade.”

He stopped walking and turned to face her.

“What are you talking about?” He asked confused.

“You know, when you screamed at the other and ordered then to stop bothering us about this?”

“Yeah, I did that because you didn’t like it when they were doing it. You were clearly uncomfortable every time someone mentioned her. Plus, you started to avoid me because of it, so …” He replied.

“Wait, so this is why you went into a big rage that day?”

“Yes. Sorry about this, though. I didn’t want to scare anyone of you guys that day. I know that yelling on someone isn’t the answered to a problem, trust me …” His eyes got lost, like he was replaying some bad memories in his head.

“You didn’t scare me, Chase. You were 14.” She tried to joke to change the subject.

“Hey! I was already pushing at the gym back then, you know?” He offended.

She looked at him amused and clearly not buying his bullshit and they both giggled. They stared to walk again to get to Stacey and Dale car, under a pleasant silence.

So, he asked the other to stop bothering us about Gertrude Stein because he thought she was hating it, not because he was hating it.

Interesting …


	8. flyers.

“How dared you did this to me?!” Gert screamed.

“Hush, uses your library voice please, this isn’t a sport field.” Helena retorted her, clearly amused.

“This was a low strike you know, the Gertrude Stein thing?”

“I know, but it’s not my fault I’m only sizing 5,2 foot.”

“Ha-ha very funny, you’re going to pay for this, you know that right?”

“Come on, I was just trying to helped a student finding the perfect book for his homework.”

Gert gave her a suspicious look.

“Don’t look at me like that, if someone should be mad here it’s me, you didn’t tell me he was so cute!”

“Really Helena, this is gross! He’s barely major!”

“Hey! I’m not going to date an infant, OK? I’m just saying he is a cute boy and I understand why you find him so attractive. I mean, have you seen those arms? Damn, I didn’t know lacrosse could pay so well …”

Gert covered her ears and made a strangled noise. She begged Helena to stop.

“Fine, fine … What can I do to redeem myself?”

“Well, you could let me use the library for my club meeting once a week? I was thinking of Wednesday.” She chose this day because Chase’s practices were on Monday and Thursday, and for now he was the only person registered in her club, even if she wasn’t sure he was going to show up to the meetings.

Helena agreed, and teased her a little about Chase being her only club’s member for now, telling her she’s going to dime the library light and put some candles for their first, face-to-face, meeting next week. Gert showed her the middle finger and left for her courses.

She was walking down the stairs with flyers for her club between her hand – she decided to prospect a little bit more because two members weren’t enough for the club to be recognized by the school – when she crossed the path of two of her favorites people in the universe: Brandon and Lucas. Apparently Brandon must have remembered their last conversation when she called him a moron and stupid because he immediately attacked her.

“Hey nerd, let me help you with those flyers!” He said while grabbing the papers from her hands and throwing them onto the floor.

“Great, this is awesome, thank you so much, you’re all strong guys!” She said ironically.

“No one is going to your sad girl club anyway.” Brandon added bitterly.

“Sad try justifiably furious. And anger is energy, which clearly threatens you …” She replied.

“Threaten?” Brandon was taking a step in her direction.

Lucas stopped him, grabbing his shoulder with him arm.

“Come on dude, be nice. It’s not her fault she’s sad. You’ll be too if you look like her.” They both started laughing.

“I think she’s beautiful!” That was Chase, he was coming their ways from behind the closest wall, and clearly, he heard all their conversation.

“You do?” Asked Brandon with a disgust face.

“You do?” She added, surprised.

He simply nodded and knelt to pick up the flyers from the floor. Gert imitated him, grabbing all the papers near her. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Chase just said in front of his “friends” that he found her beautiful. Was she dead? Or was the end of the world coming? Brandon and Lucas were still there, staring at them like they were some kinds of freak.

“Are you two deep shit? Leave her alone.” Chase said while looking at his lacrosse’s buddies.

“Wait, why do you care all of a sudden?” Wondered Lucas.

“Yeah, you know what, I’m curious about that too.” She added, getting up from the ground with her flyers inside her hands.

Chase followed her, giving her all the papers he grabbed from the floor.

“Well, we’re living in the same house now, so …”

“Oh so this is just some reward for hosting you into my house? We already talk about this, I don’t need a knight to save me, especially if the only reason he does that is because my parents decides to welcome him in our home. It wasn’t my decision, remember? So, you can stop pretending to be nice with me, if this is the only reason why you’re doing it.”

“What? No, this isn’t what I meant! I know you don’t need anyone to rescue you, you’re a strong and independent woman. I just … I just wanted the cohabitation to goes well, so I thought that maybe if we were getting along well thing would be easier …”

Gert gave him a mean look. So this was why he took her defense today and on the field before? Because her parents decide to host him and he wanted a good mood at home? Is this why he joined her club too? Great, he pissed her off, for the 12th time this week.

Brandon and Lucas were still there, following their exchange like it was the last episode of a TV show they binged watch.

Chase must have understood he messed up (again) because he started to justify himself: “No! I didn’t want to sound like … It’s just … God I’m messing this up again, right?”

She nodded, mean eyes still on. He sighed and closed his eyes.

“I should shut up and goes to classes, I see you later.” He said defeated.

He disappeared in the corridor next to them and Brandon and Lucas followed him. She went to her morning courses, still angry at him.

After lunch, she was walking into Atlas Academy corridors when she saw Chase walking next to Senior Walter, the Spanish teacher. She decided to stay a few feet behind him, so he didn’t talk to her again – and disappointed her more.

She was blankly staring at his ass – this wasn’t her fault, really, he put some beige’s pants on this morning that were showing off his (gorgeous) ass even more – when she heard their conversation.

“I’m just saying, if there’s any way you can find it in your heart, just to reconsider this grade.” Said Chase,

“I don’t grade with my heart. I use my head and a red pen. But in the case of your test, I might’ve needed two.” Replied Senior Walter.

“Oh, sick burn, Senior Walter! Much respect! Sir, look, I know I’ve been messing up. I want to change. I just need a little help. Let me re-take the test, do a project for extra credit …”

“Try studying next time.” Senior Walter cut him off.

“Sir, please, I can’t get a C.”

“Look, I appreciate your new enthusiasm for learning, but there’s nothing I can do.”

The teacher entered his classroom, leaving Chase in the corridor with a devastated look in his eyes. He pushed his fist into the closest locker, angrily, and Gert jumped a little. Then, he turned around and saw Gert was there the entire time. He looked at her like he was so ashamed she sees him like this. Like if, scaring her was the last thing he would want to do. Gert was still pissed at him, but she wanted to break this awkward moment so she decided to make a joke.

“Senior Walter is such a dick, right?” She came closer to him. “I mean, doesn’t he realized that this is an elite West-side private school, and if one of his over privileged students wants his grade changed, it’s gonna happen.”

“How long were you listening?”

“Just long enough to realized, you need help.”

He sighed and they started to walk into the corridor.

“My dad called me last night, I thought he wanted to take some news about his only child after not seeing him for a week, but no. He heard I had a C in Spanish and now is really on my ass.”

Ouch, classic Victor Stein, no affection and too many disappointments for a child to bear.

“I can’t ask him to pay for a tutor.”

Before she could think of it, she heard herself saying: “You could ask me.”

“What, to pay for my tutor?”

“No, I could help you learn Spanish. I could tutor you.”

Chase put his gaze on her, clearly surprised.

“You’d really do that? After all the shit I’ve done today? And yesterday? And the day before? Basically for the last two years? I thought you hated me.”

Gert sighed. Yeah he pissed her off, but she knew his dad can be a real dick, so.

“Yeah, you were a dick, but obviously you’re in dire need of saving and what kind of feminist should I be if I don’t jump on this occasion to be your valiant knight and save your princess ass? Plus, given my mastery of the foreign tongue, it would be selfish of me to not share it with you.”

He looked at her amused and she realized what she just said.

“My skills, not my tongue.” She hurried to add with a grimace. “Yo domino muy bien el español.” She added as example.

“That sounds like Spanish to me.” He turned to her smiling. “Tonight? I’ve got practice, but we can meet after, to Timely? I’ll pay for the coffee.”

“I’ll drink it.” She replied with a smile.

He smiled more and thanked her, before leaving for afternoon courses. She knew she was weak, but he looked like a puppy, OK? You couldn’t let a puppy failed his Spanish classes, right?

When school was over, her parents picked her up to bring her home. Chase was having practice and coach Alphona was taking the team to eat together to strengthen the team spirit or whatever after that. They were supposed to meet directly at the coffee after dinner.

Once home, she did some homework with some music on. She also took some time to reviewed her Spanish flashcards.

She had dinner alone with her parents for the first time since Chase move in, and it was kind of strange. After it she goes to her room to changed herself. This wasn’t because she wanted to look good for her date … Her study date! Nope, she just wanted to put something more comfortable. And if this outfit it’s prettier that’s just a coincidence.

She chose a plaid flared miniskirt, dark blue and black, with a navy blue Pink Floyd t-shirt and her black Doc Martens. She put her large green jacket on top of that.

She grabbed her car key and drove to Timely. She was there at 9 PM as Chase and she had planned. Chase wasn’t here so Gert install herself into an orange chair next to a low table, and put her bag on the other chair next to her, to save a place for Chase. She started doing some Spanish revision with her flashcards to be sure she was on point for the future lesson.

She checked her phone every five minutes to see if she had any text or missed call from Chase, telling her he was late and on his way. This went on for thirty minutes and Chase still wasn’t there and there wasn’t any news from her phone.

She was writing something on her notebook, when she heard someone talking to her.

“Hey.”

“Hey!” She answered, raising her head up quickly, expecting to find Chase in front of her.

But it wasn’t him. It was a random guy she didn’t know.

“Can I borrow this chair?” He asked designing the chair next to her.

“No, sorry, someone’s sitting there. He’ll be here soon.” She told him politely.

The guys gave her a sorry smile and leave, like he knew she was lying to herself believing whoever she was expecting was coming when he clearly stood her up.

She checked her phone again. No news from him. She waited another ten minutes before she started to type a text to Chase: _“Where are you?”_

But she deleted it and didn’t send it.

She waited until it was 10.30 PM, then decided to go home. Tears running down her face when she was in her car. This was all her fault. She should have known better. After all, he was nice with her for stupid reasons. She shouldn’t have given him a second chance.

Once home she went inside her bedroom. She changed into her pajama’s, removed her make-up, brushed her teeth and went to sleep.

She definitely hated Chase Stein …


	9. party.

Gert groaned, it was 6 AM and her alarm was buzzing onto her nightstand. She stuck an arm out from under the sheets to turn it off. It took her a few seconds to come back to reality, then she remembered what had happened last night. She put her head under her pillow, trying to escape from this nightmare. But it was Friday, she had to get up, prepared herself and go downstairs to eat breakfast, where she will definitely see Chase …

She screamed under her pillow.

After considering faking a flue, she decided that she was a strong and grown up woman who is not going to skip school just because a stupid jock played a prank on her last night. He must have had fun with his lacrosse buddies, laughing at her waiting alone for him in Timely.

She was pretty sure that it was his plan all along: be nice with her, trying to be friend again, just to stab her in the back harder than before.

Gert got up, prepared herself for school, did some breathing exercise to make sure she wasn’t going to commit murder when she’ll see him, and went to her door to head to the kitchen. She opened the door and screamed, Chase just fell on the ground next to her feet, like he was sitting against her bedroom door for a long time. He was possibly asleep because he looked to just waking up.

“What the hell! Were you sleeping against my door?!” She exclaimed, trying to calm her heartbeat – he just had scared the shit out of her.

“Gert!” He said while getting up, trying to regain himself. “Gert, I need to talk to you! About last night, I can explain, I was …”

“To busy with my real friends to take five seconds to text you?”

“No it wasn’t like that! Well I was with the lacrosse team, Brandon wanted us to go to his cousin’s party, and I said yes, but I was supposed to leave before 9 PM to meet you. But then Karolina showed up and …”

“Oh I see, clearly you’ve got a better offer. Sorry, I should have guessed you were too busy making out at some dumb party with Karolina, that you totally forgot about me. Wow, she must have been really good in bed for your brain to stop thinking, well not that it was very good at that before …”

“No I didn’t sleep with Karolina, I just … Gosh, it’s a long story … But I tried to called you after that, but you were already asleep, so …”

“So you decided to sleep on my door?”

“I just put my alarm at 5 AM and stayed there to be sure I could explain myself.”

He looked at her with begging eyes, God she hated when he did that, he looked like a puppy!

“Gert, Chase! Breakfast ready, come on you’re going to be late for school!” Stacey screamed from downstairs.

“You should get ready.” Gert said to Chase, gesturing to him still being in pajama’s, hair messy on his head.

She wasn’t used to seeing him like this, and if she wasn’t so mad at him, she’ll probably admit to herself he was cute.

She started to move to the kitchen, when Chase stopped her.

“Gert, wait! I still need to explain!”

“You know what Chase?” She crossed her arm on her chest. “I’m done with you. You spend your time playing with my nerves. Every time I believe you’re still the kid that used to be my best friend, you do or say something wrong and try to explain yourself, but it only gets worse. Just stay away from me at school, like you used to do for the last two years, and I’ll be polite with you in front of my parents, but when we’re alone in here, you stay on your side and I stay on mine and everything will go well! Just go live a happy life with Karolina, like you always wanted!”

She ran downstairs, ignoring him calling her name. He didn’t follow her through, well he still had to get ready for school, so.

She entered the kitchen and put a fake smile on her face for her parents. She started to eat and talk with them. After 15 minutes, Chase joined them, all dressed and hair’s perfectly styled on his head.

“Chase, dear, we were worried you’ll never come!” Said Stacey.

“Sorry, I missed my alarm this morning.”

“Oh, is this because you came home late last night? You know buddy, I don’t want to be the bad cop, but on school night, no staying out so late, OK?”

“Sure, Dale. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

Dale smiled at him.

“OK, kids, we’re already late to work. I’m sorry Chase, but you’ll have to eat something at school …”

“I can take my car, and give Gert a ride to school too? This way you won’t be late to work if you didn’t have to stopped by the school.”

Before Gert could protest, her mom thanked Chase. And soon, both her parents were leaving the house, after kissing her on the head, and hugging Chase, wishing them a good day. Gert started blankly at the door they just close. What just happened? Did he not get it when she told him to stay the fuck away from her?

Chase was drinking his orange juice like nothing was wrong.

“What did you just do?”

“I offered to drive us to school today to helped your parents.” He replied casually.

She gave him dark eyes and get up to grabbed her bag.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m gonna take my car to go to school.”

“No!” He said getting up too. “Looked, I already finish, let’s take mine.” He said while shoving three pancakes down his throat, gross.

“I’m not staying alone with you.”

“Come on Gert.” He emptied his mouth. “Your car is old, there’s a 60% chance you won’t arrive to school in one piece.”

“I’m willing to take that risk.” She hissed.

“What about global warming, uh? We should share a car for the planet, right?”

She hated him when he was using her convictions to win a fight against her.

“Please, Gert, I’m begging you …”

He made a lost puppy face to her and she surrendered.

“Fine, but you’re not talking to me!”

He didn’t reply, simply smile, and grabbed his bag and car’s key and they left. They drove silent for 5 minutes when Chase pulled on the side on the road, and stopped the car.

“What are you doing?!” She screamed.

He took off his seatbelt and turned to her.

“OK, now I need you to listen to me. No! Don’t interrupt me for once. Please.”

She closed her mouth and crossed her arms on her chest, fixing her eyes in front of her.

“I know I messed up, OK? But last night after practice the coach bring us some pizzas and the guys talked about going to a party. I didn’t want to go because we were supposed to meet, but they said I had to be there for the team spirit or some shit. So, I joined them, drink one beer and was about to leave to meet you, when I saw Karolina was there. I don’t know what happened, but she passed out on the dance floor, and Brandon was taking her upstairs, still unconscious.”

Gert turned to him, suddenly worried.

“Lucas was with him, they entered an empty room. I followed them. When I entered the piece, Brandon was undoing Karolina belt, Lucas watching.”

“Oh my God.”

“I beat the shit out of them until they left. Then I put Karolina belt on, and wake her up. She didn’t remember anything and I … I didn’t tell her what happened …”

“What? Chase you have to tell her!”

“I know, it’s just … I want to protect her; you know?”

“Chase, this isn’t your decision to make, OK? This happened to her and she needed to know.”

“Sure, I’ll talk to her today.”

“Good.” She smiled softly.

He came closer to her in the car, putting his arm behind her seat.

“Gert, I wanted to warn you, but I just completely forgot, OK? After that, Karolina asked me to stay with her, so I brought her home. By the time I remembered about the coffee, you were already home and sleeping. You know my brain is pretty slow, right?”

She laughed a little and nodded.

“I tried to called you, but it was too late, and I didn’t want to wake you up, so …”

“It’s okay Chase, I understand.” She put her hand on his bicep.

“Really?”

“Really.” She smiled. “But you have to talk to Karolina today.”

“Of course.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

The car was silent now. They stared at each other and she realized her hand was still on his arm. She took it off immediately, like she had burned herself, and cleared her throat. Chase regained himself too, and sat back properly, behind the wheel.

“I should, probably drove us to school now, or we’re going to be late.” He said.

She agreed and Chase started the car. Soon they arrived in the school parking lot. The bell rung when Chase was parking his car, so they ran together to homeroom. When they entered the room, Karolina, Nico and Alex stared at them with surprised eyes.

After that, Gert was having Math with Alex and he decided to start an interrogatory on her.

“So, you and Chase, uh? About time I guess.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You guys are dating now, right?”

“Absolutely not! Why do you think that?”

“The two of you arriving late together this morning, you were making out and didn’t hear the bell?”

“No!” The teacher asked her to lower her voice. “He drove us to school this morning with his car, and traffic was a bitch.” She whispered.

“Oh, OK. I thought the two of you had finally figured it out.”

“Figured out, what?” She asked.

“That you loved each other since, I don’t know, maybe forever?”

“What? No, we’re not … I’m not …” She stunned. “Chase doesn’t like me this way.”

“Really, then why did he asked his parents to stay at your place for the rest of the year?”

“He didn’t, it’s Janet who …”

“No, Gert. When his parents announced to the rest of their friends’ group they were leaving to New York for the rest of the year, every parents offered to host him. Janet said she’ll see with Chase if he rather not stayed at one of his friends. And Chase begged Janet to accept your parents’ offer, to Victor displeasure … He never really carried them into his heart.”

“He never really carried anyone into his heart, except himself.” She replied. “Wait, so Chase especially asked to stay at my place?”

Alex nod positively.

OK, that was weird. The rest of the morning she stayed incredibly silent, thinking about what Alex told her in Math. She wondered why Chase asked to stay in her house. Probably because her parents were cool. That’s the only thing that makes sense.

At lunch she went to the cafeteria and saw Chase sitting alone in a table. She wanted to join him to ask for more explication, when Brandon and Lucas, followed by all the rest of the lacrosse team, headed his way. Brandon was having a black eye and looked really pissed. He approached to Chase.

“24h and no apology?”

“You’re not getting one now, either.” Chase replied bitterly.

“Come on, man, it was just a party. Everyone’s wasted, shit happens. All that matter is the team. We gotta be able to put stuff like this behind us.” That was Lucas this time.

OK, Gert wanted to threw up, these boys were disgusting. Chase got up from his chair, anger than ever.

“Stuff like this?” He came closer to Lucas and Brandon. “You can’t even say what you were gonna do.”

_Yes, that’s my boy! Go on, told these rapists the fucking true._

“Look, man, the lacrosse season just begin. Soon we’re gonna have recruiters for university. Just say you’re sorry and we all move on.” Lucas offered his hand to Chase to shake.

_Come on Chase, don’t do that. If you shake his hand, it’s like you’re making a deal with the devil._ Chase looked at his hand, and turned to Brandon.

“You gonna say sorry to her?”

“No. I got a broken rib because of that bitch.”

That asshole. Chase and Brandon were face to face now, only a few inches apart. Chase nodded.

“Well, good thing you got 23 more!” Chase exclaimed, grabbing Brandon by the neck and shoving in knee in Brandon’s chest.

“Chase!” She screamed.

But it was too late, the boys were fighting, the others lacrosse’s players trying to separate them. Coach Alphona arrived and split them, telling them to meet in his office immediately. Gert wanted to follow him, but someone get in her way.

“Gert! Can I talk with you?” That was Nico.

Well, this was going to be an interesting discussion …


	10. girl talk.

“Nico, what’s going on?” Gert looked at her confused.

They hadn’t spoken in two years. Nico was always pushing away everyone who was trying to talk with her, and now she wanted to talk with Gert?

“It’s Karolina, she locked herself in the bathroom, she’s crying. I don’t understand what happened, but she mentioned Chase and the lacrosse’s team at a party. Do you know what she’s talking about?”

Nico looked at her with worried eyes.

“Shit! Yes, I know, come on let’s go meet her.”

The girls ran to the school gender neutral bathroom – which was her new meeting room for her to reconnect with friends, apparently. Two girls from the dancing squad were there, putting some make-up on, in front of the mirror. Nico casted them away, screaming at them to go watch a YouTube make-up tutoring.

They came closer to the only occupy cabinet, and Gert heard Karolina crying.

“Karolina, it’s Gert. I’m with Nico. Are you okay?” She said softly.

All she heard was more cry.

“Look, Chase told me what happened, if you want to talk about this …”

There was some movement on the other side of the door, and Karolina opened the cabinet. Her face was dripping with tears, eyes red, and make-up down her face.

“He told you?” She asked between sobs.

Gert nodded. Karolina cried more and ran into her arms. Gert hugged her tightly, brushing her hand on her back, trying to calm her.

“Hey, it’s OK Karrie. Just take some deep breaths, alright?” That was Nico, she passed her hands into Karolina’s hairs, stroking them between her fingers.

Karolina raised her head, and met Nico’s eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds, Nico brushing a strand of Karrie’s hair behind her ear.

“Do you wanna talk about this?” She asked softly, putting one of her hand on Karolina’s cheek.

Karolina nodded, she stepped back a little from Gert and explained what happened last night. She wanted to feel free for once in her life. To not feel all the church’s pressure her mom was putting on her. To rebel herself. So, she went to this stupid party, and … Well, you know what happened next.

“These bastards!” Nico screamed. “I’m going to cut off their dicks.”

“Well, Chase try to beat you on that.” Retorted Gert.

Gert explained to the two girls what happened during the lunch, and Nico insulted Brandon and Lucas even more, putting some Wicca’s spell on them.

“Look, Karolina, if you want to speak about what they did to you, we’re here to support you, OK? Or if you want to do nothing, that’s fine too, it’s your decision to make.” Gert said.

Karolina closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I already think about this, I want them to pay, but … If I suited them, only Chase is going to tell the truth to the police. There are two of them, it’s their words against ours. Plus, all I remembered is waking up in a bed with Chase next to me. So, I’m pretty sure that Chase will appear as the guilty one in front of justice, even if I know that he done nothing.”

Gert sighed. Karolina was right, unfortunately …

“What if you talked to your parents? They’re influent people in here with their church and everything …” Started Nico.

“Well, I’m sure Brandon and Lucas rich parents are influent people too … Plus, my parents won’t want this story to make too much noises because of the image of the church …”

Nico gave her an understanding look and whipped away a few tears from Karolina’s face with her fingers.

“Maybe we can try to take them down with my club?” Offered Gert. “We could investigate, try to find some prove? So we could speak to the principal and kick them out of Atlas? This way you won’t have to see those bastards again. But that’s only if you want to talk about what they tried to did to you of course, Karo.”

“Yeah, I don’t want theses bastards to do the same to another girl, especially if there is no Chase around to save her this time …”

“What would we do without Chase Stein, valiant knight in his shiny armor?” Gert said amused.

Nico and Karolina laughed.

“Don’t told him I said that, he will never let go of this.” She expressed to add.

“Of course.” They said at the same time, laughing more.

Nico bring some tissues to Karolina for her to wiped away her tears from her face.

“So, where do we sign for your club?” Asked Karolina.

“Oh, you don’t have to officially join it, we’re gonna help you anyway, undermining the patriarchy, remembered? That’s what we do.”

“I would like to join it, please.” Said the blonde girl. “I’m sorry I turned your offer down the other day, you were nice with me and I pushed you away that wasn’t fair.”

“It’s OK, we haven’t spoken in years, and I always was kind of a bitch with you, so …”

“Peace?” Offered Karolina, while showing up her hand.

Gert shook it and answered: “Peace.”

They smiled at each other.

“Mind if I step in?” Wondered Nico.

“You want to join my club too?” Gert was surprised.

“Well, these assholes deserved a lesson right?”

Karolina hugged her, a grabbed Gert to come into the hug to. They broke apart after some times, and Nico turned to Gert.

“OK, so your club, how many are we inside?”

“Well, there’s the three of us and Chase for now. But Miss Pearson told me she gave some documentation at other students this week. So maybe we’ll be more at our first club meeting.”

“Wait, Chase is in your club?” Nico asked suspiciously.

“Yeah, he signed up after my presentation in homeroom on Wednesday.”

“Really, Chase Stein undermining the patriarchy? God, he still like you so much.”

“What, no! He just …”

“And they lived together now!” Added Karolina, cutting Gert off.

“What?!” Nico exclaimed.

“It’s not … He just stayed at my place while his parents are in New York, that’s all.”

“Oh my God, you two are impossible!” Said Nico, while rolling her eyes.

“Why?”

“Come on, when we were still all hanging out together, the two of you kept looking at the other with heart eyes that was disgusting.” Nico sounded jaded.

“We didn’t …” Gert started.

“Seriously Gert?” Karolina was looking at her with an amused look.

“Chase didn’t like me like that, OK? Actually, I’m pretty sure you’re the one he was looking at with heart eyes all these years Karo …”

“Well, clearly you need to change your glasses.” Karolina replied.

“Can we speak about something else, please?” Begged Gert, hopping she wasn’t blushing madly.

“Sure, but don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t deny liking him, girl!” Nico elbowed her.

Gert rolled her eyes, and the two others started to giggled. It felt good, to talk with them again. It was like they were still friends.

After a make-up picking up on Karolina face from Nico – the blonde girl screamed when Nico approached her eyes with dark eyeshadow, so she just readjusted her eyeliner line – they promised each other to meet on Wednesday, for the club meeting.

Gert left the bathroom with Nico and Karolina, waving a goodbye at them and texted Chase before her afternoon courses.

_U ok?_

He immediately replied.

_Yes :)_

_Meet u at my car after school :)_

Okay, this guy was using too many emoji.

She simply replied with a “ _Sure_ ”.

On her French lesson, she wondered if she should ask Alex and Molly to join the club too. After all, everyone else was already in it, it will be unfair to not at last offer to them to come too. That was probably a terrible idea, but sure, why not. She decided to ask them on Monday, she had too many emotions for this week.

When the last bell of the day finally rang, she almost ran to Chase’s car. This was a long week and she was happy to go home – and to see if Chase was fine after what happened today at lunch.

He was waiting for her, leaning against his car. When he saw her, he smiled, and she returned it.

“You’re alright?” She asked again, she needed to check that in person and not only by text.

“Yeah, coach Alphona gave us a speech about team spirit and the university recruiters coming soon. And I left the team.”

“You did what?!” She exclaimed.

“I left the team. I’m not playing lacrosse with some rapists.” He shrugged.

“Chase, I’m really proud of you …” His eyes lit up. “But are you sure about this? You love playing lacrosse.”

He came closer to her.

“Yes, never been more certain I took the right decision in my life. You should be relieved, you hate lacrosse.”

“I hate what it had made of you.” She confessed, seeing a shadow passing in his eyes. “But after what you did for Karolina today, maybe you’re not a lost cause. Plus, I have so many nicknames based on lacrosse for you, what should I called you now?”

He laughed.

“Chase?” He offered.

“Hum …” She pretended to consider it for a few seconds before replying: “Nope, Jock-jams will stay, sorry.”

“Fine.” He capitulated, still smiling.

They got into his car, and Gert explained to him what happened during the lunch with Nico and Karolina, but she didn’t mention the part where the girls teased her about loving him.

“So, they’re joining the club too?” Gert simply nodded. “Cool.”

He was grinning like an idiot and Gert felt a pinch in her heart. Of course he was happy about the girls joining the club, this way he would be able to see Karolina more often …

“I wanted to ask Molly and Alex if they want to come too.” She told him.

He suddenly lost his smile.

“Why?” He asked harshly.

“Uh … Because they used to be part of the band too. I don’t know, it’ll be strange to meet up without them. It’ll be already strange enough without … You know …” Gert sighed and closed her eyes.

“I missed her too, you know?” Chase said after a small silence.

“Yeah … Missed her so much you decided to leave too …” She replied sadly.

Chase jumped, clearly surprised she brought that subject up, and the car zigzag a little.

“Chase! Watch out!” She screamed, putting her hand on the dashboard to steady herself.

“Shit! Sorry, I didn’t want to scare you! You’re OK?” He asked, putting his right hand on her arm.

“Yes, I’m fine, but keep both your hands on the wheel, please!” Her heart was beating fast and she didn’t know if it was because of his terrible driver abilities or the burning heat she was feeling on her skin where he was touching her.

“Right, sorry.” He said taking off his hand. “I just … I wasn’t expecting you to talk about this today …” He explained sheepishly.

“No kidding?” She retorted.

“I’m really sorry Gert. For the car and for what happened two years ago. I’m truly are.” He sounded sincere, but Gert didn’t want to continue with conversion while Chase was still behind the wheel.

She didn’t answer and the rest of the drive was silence. Chase parked into the Yorkes’ driveway and they left the car. She opened the front door to see her parents weren’t home for now, probably taking advantage of the fact they didn’t have to drive them from school to stay a little longer at work to finish a project.

She was headed to her room when Chase spoke to her again.

“I left because I was afraid.”

She turned to him, surprised: “Afraid of what?”

He sighed, closed his eyes and mentioned to the couch in Gert living room. They both headed there and sat on the couch next to each other. He turned to her and she saw so much pain in his eyes, she was feeling bad.

“I need you to promise me to not tell anyone what I’m about to say.”

“You’re scaring me Chase …”

“Just promised me, Gert. Please?”

“OK, I promise.”

He took a deep breath.

“The day before Amy left, I told her a secret about my dad. A secret I can’t share with you because I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

“Trouble? What are you talking about?”

“I told Amy my secret, the next day she was missing …”

“Chase, are you sure Amy runaway had something to do with your dad’s secret?”

He looked at her with tears in his eyes.

“All I know is that she was really angry at him, she said she was gonna talk to her mother about this, figured something out to help me …”

“And the next day she was missing …” Concluded Gert.

Chase agreed and she felt a weight on her chest.

“Do you think …” She started, her voice a little bit broken. “Do you think; your dad could have scared her enough that she had to run away to survive?”.

Chase gulped and locked his eyes in her.

“I think if Victor Stein had anything to do with Amy missing, there is a probability she didn’t run away …”

Gert started to connect all the dots together.

“Chase …” She said softly, putting her hand on his arm. “Do you think your dad … Killed Amy?”

He nodded, and Gert started to freak out. Her breath was getting jerky and she could feel her throat tighten up.

Great, she was having a panic attack in front of Chase …


	11. bucket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING !  
> This chapter contain a little explicit scene at the end of it. If you don't feel confortable about it, you're warn.

“Gert? Gert, you okay?” Chase looked at her, worried.

Gert was breathing heavily, she felt nauseous, her heart was pounding in her chest. She was hyperventilating now. Chase put his hands on her arms, trying to get her attention.

“Gert, look at me.”

She put her eyes on him. He put one of his hand behind her neck, caressing her skin slowly, doing some circles with his fingertips.

“Just breathe. Do you know the 4-7-8 method? Coach Alphona teaches us that. Just follow my led. Empty your lungs of air” He said while doing it.

Gert imitate him.

“Now breathe in quietly through the nose for four seconds.”

They both did as he said.

“Hold your breath for a count of seven seconds”.

She grabbed his hand that was still on her arm while doing what he said, trying to find something to hold to.

“And now, exhale forcefully through the mouth, purse your lips and make a “whoosh” sound, for eight seconds.”

He interlaced their fingers together and used his thumb to caress the skin of her hand.

“Now we repeat the cycle up to four times”.

They did the breathing method three more times and Gert felt her heart calming. The beats weren’t as loud as before, and she could breathe easier now. Chase kept caressing her hand and her neck all along, sometimes brushing his fingers at the base of her hair.

“You’re feeling better now?” He asked softly, when she stopped hyperventilating.

She nodded, she hadn’t enough energies to talk, plus her voice was probably hoarse after a crisis like this. Chase take her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She closed her eyes and put her head against his neck, breathing his scent. She put her arms against his back, too. One of his hand was on her back now, brushing it softly, the other was in her hairs, playing with them.

She felt more relaxed but also completely exhausted, like always after a crisis. Chase started to rock them slowly and if she didn’t move, she was going to feel asleep in a few seconds.

“Chase?” She whispered against his neck, sending shivers on his skin.

“Hum?”

“I’m going to sleep …”

“Cool, I’m a comfortable pillow don’t worry.” He replied, not moving.

“Chase.” She laughed, pushing him a little.

He kept one arm around her, the other still stroking her hair. They were staring at each other in the eyes.

“This was a panic attack, right?” He asked her.

She nodded.

“It happened sometimes, I …” She took a deep breath and continued. “I suffer from anxiety.”

“Oh, I didn’t know …” He looked at her confused.

“Yeah, it started after Amy left …”

“Oh.”

“Yeah …”

They stayed like this on the couch for some times, Chase’s hands still on her, looking at each other. But they broke apart when they heard the front door opened, Stacey and Dale were entering into the house. Chase and she stayed on the couch, but at a reasonable distance. They didn’t mention what happened to her parents, and spend the rest of the evening, pretending everything was normal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gert groaned. It was Saturday, that to say one of the only days she could sleep in. But some asshole decided to put his stupid music super loud next to her window, and now she’s awake at 8 PM. She rolled under the sheets, trying desperately to get back to sleep, but still not succeeded.

“Blame” from Bastilles was buzzing from outside. At least, the person who woke her up had some good music tastes. Gert sighed and capitulated. She won’t be able to fall asleep again now. She straightened up in her bed, and grab her glasses on her bedside table to put them on. She got up and went to the window to open her curtains.

That’s when she saw him. The asshole who woke her up. It was Chase, of course. He was currently in her garden, right under her window, and he was hitting a punching bag. He was wearing some black shorts sport and a sleeveless white tight t-shirt, showing off his very muscular arms. He also had some sports mitt on his hands.

He couldn’t see Gert from here, her room was on the first floor on the house, so she had all the leisure to do some staring. And she did. He was super-hot right now, with sweat dripping all other his body, his messy hairs flying all over his face every time he moved. His biceps were contracted, showing off even more all his muscles.

Gert held back a moan.

She did some more staring, to keep this picture of him in mind for later, and decided it was time for revenge. After all, Chase did wake her up on a Saturday at 8 AM, he deserved some punishment for that. Gert shook her head, bad chose of word, nope, do not start to let your pervert mind think of punishing Chase. Yeah, definitely a bad idea.

She calmed her dirty mind and went to the front door of the house. At one corner on their house, there was a rainwater collector that her parents used to water the garden. She grabbed a bucket and filled it with the cold rainwater.

She went back inside the house, crossed the living room, and open the bay window that headed to the Yorkes’ garden. She went carefully to Chase, he was facing his back to her, and his music was still buzzing on the speaker posed on a table a few feet next to him, so he didn’t hear her coming.

She stopped when she was only a few feet behind him, and poured out all the bucket on him.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” He screamed.

Gert laughed, she had to grab her ribs, this scream was so high-pitched, it sounded like a little girl. He turned around to stare at her with a furious look on his face. Or at least he tried. With all the water he looked like a wet puppy, pounding out his lips like a sulking child. Gert laughed even more, tears in her eyes. She had to catch her breath.

“Oh, so you think this is funny, uh?” He smirked at her with an evil look.

He came closer to her, stretching out his arms to grab her. She stopped laughing.

“No, Chase, no! Don’t do that, no!” She tried to run away, but he was faster.

He took her into his arms, pulling her into a tight hug. He was still cold from the water, and she screamed about this.

“Let me go!”

He laughed, and held her tighter if it was possible. Her sleeping clothes – a navy blue loose t-shirt with some black sports style tiny shorts – were soaked too now. He made sure to rub his arms all over her back, to put water everywhere.

“Who’s laughing now, uh?” He exclaimed with an evil laugh.

She tried to pushed him away, but he was too strong for her. He shook his head, sending water all over her face and glasses too.

“Stop it!”

“What? You said your parents you wanted a puppy, right?” He smiled down at her.

He grabbed her face with both his hands, and rub his nose against her cheek.

“Yuck, this his gross! Stop, stop, stop …” She was laughing with him.

“This is all your fault; you know? You’re the one who threw a bucket of freezing water on me, remember?” He looked at her in the eyes, a big smile on his face.

His two hands were still holding her head, finger on the junction between her jaw and her neck, brushing her hair with his fingertips. His body was against hers, chest to chest, legs intertwined.

“Well, you’re the one who puts his freaking workout playlist super loud on a Saturday morning, right under my bedroom window. For God’s sake, it’s 8 AM!” She insisted on the “super”.

She tried to give him a stern look, but with all the drops of water on her glasses. Plus, her hair looking like a mess because she just woke up, she didn’t look serious at all. He bit his lips, holding back a smirk.

“The early bird catches the worm.” He simply replied.

She rolled her eyes and he laughed, sending vibration against her chest. That’s when she realized how close they were. Her breasts were pressing against his chest; she could feel her nipples were erect because of the coldness of the water, and she was pretty sure Chase could feel them too because she wasn’t wearing a bra and the fabric of her t-shirt was too thin to hide it.

She coughed and took a step back. Chase swallow and lost his smile, now she was sure he felt it. 

“We should … Go change ourselves, before we catch a flu or something …” She said.

She tried really hard to not stared at Chase wet white t-shirt that was sticking against his chest, now completely transparent. She could see his chest and his abs through the material.

He simply nodded and went to shut down his speaker. She headed inside without him, preferring stay away from his body for now.

She rushed to her room, and closed the door. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her heartbeat but all she could picture was Chase. Chase and his dimples when he smiled at her, Chase and his wet messy hair, Chase and his hot wet body, Chase and his hot wet body pressing against her.

“Shit.” She swore.

She headed to her personal bathroom that was adjacent to her bedroom, and closed the door, making sure to put the locker on. She stripped from her clothes and went inside the shower.

At first the water was cold, sending shivers and goosebumps all over her skin, but soon it was warm enough. As warm as Chase’s body was against her seconds ago. She bit her lips and let the water running down her spine, trying to relax her muscles.

_“There’s one thing you could do to be completely relax you know …”_ Suggested the voice inside her head. _“Come on, we both know you craved for this, even more since hot face started to sleep under the same roof that you …”_

She sighed and capitulated.

She put her hands on her breasts, squeezing them firmly. She pressed them for some times, feeling her nipples erecting again. She used her thumbs and index, to squeeze both her nipples between them, making her moan.

She could feel the wetness between her legs.

She pressed her right hand to her tummy, keeping the left one on her breast. Her hand found her way to her hot center, testing the wetness down there with her fingers. She found her clitoris immediately, pressing her index and middle finger on it. She closed her eyes and pictured it was Chase’s big and callous hands on her instead of her own, increasing her excitement.

“Hum …” She groaned.

She pictured Chase firm body, pressing behind her, rutting his hard dick against her bum. His muscle chest pressed against her back. His breath against her left ear. He pressed kisses on her neck, sucking and biting on the skin.

“Yeah …” She moaned.

His left hand kept playing with her breast, pressing her hard nipple between his fingers. His right hand pressed his index inside her, sliding easily inside thanks to her wetness. His finger was moving back and forth inside her and soon his middle follow, stretching her more.

“Yes … More, please …” She whimpered.

He increased the speed of his movements, and his thumb find her clit, putting some pressure on it. She was so excited and it’s been so long since her last orgasm that she could feel she was already close to come.

She kept playing with herself, the image of Chase and his hot body still inside her head. She applied more pressure on her clit and twist her knuckles inside of her, when she felt it. Her orgasm was building up, rising from her lower belly. She pressed her nipple harder, and continue to pushed her fingers inside her all along, brushing her thumb on her clit more.

“Chase!” She screamed when she came.

Her legs were shaking while a wave of intense pleasure hit her. She moaned his named again through it. She let go of her breast to steady her hand against the wall, trying to held herself up.

She tried to catch her breath, her heart beating loud inside her ears. She bit her lips, God that was good. While her pleasure relapsed, she started to feel guilty. She just masturbated on the thought of Chase.

It wasn’t the first time. She already had many fantasies that were including him, but they weren’t friends anymore back then. And he wasn’t living two meters away from her room.

She turned around and put her head under the shower head, starting to clean herself and her guilty feeling at the same time.

One week of living with Chase and her hormones were already taking control upon her body.

This was going to be a long year …


	12. pancakes.

For the rest of the morning, she avoided Chase, but at lunch she had to eat face to him. And every time her eyes landed on him, she remembered what happened this morning with him in her garden. And worse, what happened after when she was alone in her shower.

She spent the afternoon in her room, the only place she knew she couldn’t fall on him.

There was a knock on her door and she gasped, please don’t be Chase, please don’t be Chase, please don’t …

“Gert?” He asked from outside the room.

Shit! Her bad luck was sticking to her like glue. She sighed and told him to enter.

“Hey.” He said softly.

“Hey.” She replied, her voice a little shaky.

She was sitting on one of her armchair, on the right side of her room, next to her carpet.

“You’re OK? You seemed a little bit, stressed since … This morning.” He asked.

“I … Uh …” She stammered.

“Is this because of what I said yesterday, about my dad? Or because I pissed you off, I don’t know, maybe 20th time already since I lived here?” He joked.

She giggled and gestured him to sit on the pouf next to her.

“I only counted 15th, for now.” She replied, making him laugh.

She stated to play with her fingers, a little nervous.

“I didn’t want to pissed you off, you know?” He asked.

She couldn’t dare to turn to him, so she focused her gaze on her fingers.

“I know, you’re just naturally talented for it.”

He giggled and grabbed her hands with one of his. She turned to him, blushing a little.

“I’m sorry about what I said when Brandon and Lucas were bothering you with your flyers at school. Not the part where I said that you’re beautiful, just the part where I said I was only nice with you to be a good roommate.”

Ok, now she was red like a tomato, she was certain of it.

“I just … Missed you very much these past few years. And I wanted to reconnect with you. But I know I don’t deserve forgiveness. So, when I ordered those assholes to leave you alone that was just me trying to do my mea-culpa.”

She locked her eyes on his.

“Chase …” She started softly. “Why? It’s been two years, you’re the one who ran away from our friendship, remember? Why did you do that, if you cared about me being your friend?”

He sighed and closed his eyes.

“I told you, I was afraid about what my dad could have done to Amy. And …” He stopped.

She brushed her fingers on his hand, making him opened his eyes again and looked at her.

“And what?” She encouraged him.

“I was even more afraid of what he could do to you. Because you were important to me … Shit, you’re still are. I didn’t want you to end up like Amy, or worse.” He said sincerely.

Her heart escaped a beat. Shit, that was unexpected. She swallowed and tried to calm her heart – and her mind which was playing every stupid love song inside her head since Chase confession.

“That’s why you abandon me … And the others?” She asked.

He nodded.

“I wanted to protect you guys, even if that’s mean losing you. Well, the group had already fallen apart, so it wasn’t just my fault, but still … I abandoned you. And I’m sorry for this.”

His eyes were wet and Gert didn’t know how she managed to not cried already.

“Now that my dad is away, I thought that, maybe, I could start to live again.”

She repressed the urge to kiss him, right now.

“When he’ll came back, I’ll be 19 and graduated from high school. I’ll choose a university as far away as I can and try to see him as less as possible.” He added.

“Have you already picked one yet? A university.” She asked gently.

“I was hoping for MIT, this would be my dream, but my grades aren’t enough to get there so …”

“Maybe you could try to improve them this year? I mean, I know a girl who could tutor you, if you don’t stand her up again.”

“You’ll do that for me?” He asked, with bright eyes.

“Well, tutor always look good on a résumé, so … Maybe by helping getting to MIT, I’ll could help me getting to Smith, too.”

“You want to go to Smith?” She nodded. “Cool, it’s not far from MIT.” He added with a big smile on his face.

“So what, you want to keep seeing me after graduation? Living into my house this year wasn’t enough?” She joked.

“Oh, I intend to keep following you all around the world. If we go to Massachusetts together, we’re gonna share a flat there. I’ll make us some matching BFF t-shirts and put up some posters all over our campus, so all the population there will know you and I are inseparable. I’ll followed you to your parties, clubs, leisure, dates, even in some of your courses when I have free time, we’ll be together almost 24/7. You’re bound with me for the rest of your life now, until retirement home at least.”

She gave him a scared look and he immediately justified himself.

“I was joking, you know that, right?” He laughed awkwardly. “That was creepy again, isn’t it?”

“Well, this time, not the Ted Bundy kind of creepy, more like Joe Goldberg in the series “You” kind of creep.”

They both laughed and he started to relax. They were still holding hands, which was very strange because Gert wasn’t Chase’s girlfriend and they were not kid anymore. So, she took her hand back slowly, not wanted to offended him or something.

“So, Joe …” She started while getting up. “Are you gonna stay in my room forever?”

“I like your room, it feels comfortable and nice in there.” He shrugged.

“The guest room isn’t comfortable enough for you?” She asked sarcastically.

“Well, the paint of the naked chick on top of the bed is kind of disturbing, to be honest.”

She laughed remembering her parents terrible taste for decoration. Not that she had any lesson to give, her room was full of colors. With her purple bed sheets, her blue and green and pink pillows and plaid all over the place. And all her posters behind her bedhead – mostly they were flyers from causes and manifestation she believed in and/or participated to.

Her house was always like that, colorful, full of old objects and furniture her parents bring from flea market, a lot of objects weren’t fitting together, mixing all different styles, but it was part of the Yorkes’s house charm.

In Chase’s house, everything was perfectly coordinated and associated. Janet spent her days watching some home design TV shows, and her house was perfectly decorating. Every object had a specific place in the house, and it was always at their place.

Plus, Victor Stein always loved to show off his success, so you can see many posters of him being in cover of magazines. And every latest equipment to show he had money and worth better than you. Speaking of the devil she was still wondering what was wrong with him – not in his head, she knew he was a psychopath, just about his sickness.

“What have your dad? You never told me.” She asked Chase.

She saw his jaw clenched, and all his muscles tensed.

“You don’t have to tell me, of course! I’m sorry, I didn’t want to …”

“A brain tumor.” He cut her off.

“Shit, Chase, I’m so sorry.” She said while rushing to sit back next to him.

“He’s an asshole, remember? You don’t have to be sorry. Plus, he pays the best neurosurgeon in the world to cure him, I’m sure he’ll be okay, at least that’s what my mom said …”

“Chase …” She said slowly while putting her hand on his left forearm. “It’s OK to be afraid, you know? I know your dad is a dick, but he’s your dad. You have all the rights to be sad, or angry, or scared.”

He gave her a small smile.

“Thanks, Gert.”

“That’s normal. If there is anything I can do to help you, just ask, OK?”

He nodded and bit his lips.

“Can you … Can I …”

“Yeah?” She encouraged him.

“Can you give me a hug?”

He looked at her hesitant.

“Oh, ye-yeah, of course.” She was cut off guard.

She came closer to him and took him into her arms, wrapping them behind his back. He heaved a sigh of contentment, and pressed her closer. His arms were on her back, one at the bottom, the other across her shoulder, letting his fingers played with her hair. He nuzzled his face against her neck and took a deep breath. She started to cradle them a little, and he hummed again.

They stayed like this for she doesn’t know how many times. But when they finally managed to split up, she felt empty and cold, away from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What the hell happened in there, a hurricane?!” She exclaimed when she saw the state of her kitchen.

Chase head rose up from behind the fridge, and she could see some flour all over his face and hair. The kitchen was a mess, there was flour and other foods all over the work plan and the floor. Dirty dishes on the counter, and she could smell something burning in the frying pan.

“Shit!”

She rushed to the baking tray to turn it off before it activates the fire alarm of the house.

“What are you doing?” She asked, angrily to Chase.

“Hum … Cooking?”

She wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be an answer or a question and neither did him.

“Really?” She asked, jaded.

“Or, I try to cook.” He closed the fridge and approached her. She could see his clothes were a mess too, just like the rest of the kitchen. “I wanted to cook a Sunday brunch for your parents, to thank them for hosting me into their house, but I just realized don’t know how to cook …”

She gave him a melted gaze.

“Ow, Chase, that’s really sweet. Well, now we’re going to have to call a cleaning crew to clean your mess, but at least it was starting from a nice intention.”

“Can you help me? Please Gert, I’m begging you! Look, I can even beg you on my knees.” He said while doing so.

She gulped and rushed to get him back up. She didn’t need a picture of Chase on his knees in front of her to feed her dirty mind even more.

“Fine, I’ll help you! But just so you know, it’s misogynist from you to believe because I’m a woman, I obviously know how to cook.” She sharped.

“Oh, I didn’t want to sound misogynist, I just thought you couldn’t be worse than me at this.”

She scoffed.

“OK, so what were you trying to do, other than burning down this place?”

“Hey! This isn’t my fault, you know. At home, it was always my mom who cooks.”

She gave him a mean look.

“OK, maybe I could have asked her to teach me how to cook.” He conceded. “And to answer your question, I was trying to do some pancakes.”

She took a look at the mixing bowl left next to the pan. She grabbed the ladle inside and mixed the liquid inside. It was greyish, with a lot lumps and even some bubbles.

“OK, I’m against throwing food away, but if we eat this, we’re all gonna end up at the hospital.”

She told Chase to clear and clean the bowl, the fry and basically every kitchen utensil he wasted. While she started grabbing all the ingredients for making a new pancakes dough.

When he finished, he joined her next to the work plan, and she explained him what to do. She only broke the eggs herself because she didn’t want to spend an hour trying to take off all the pieces of shell that would have fallen into the dough.

When he started to mix the dough with the whip, she held back a moaned at how his arms were stretching, showing off his muscles and veins.

After some wasted try to cook the pancakes, he finally got it and they succeeded in making a full plate of pancakes.

She helped him prepared some avocado toast, some salmon and cottage cheese bagel (with tomato instead of the fish for her) and fruits salad. They didn’t have time to bake, so she just unfrozen some of Stacey’s chocolate muffin and a banana bread she was keeping in the freezer for emergency.

Chase cleaned the kitchen, with her help – seriously how did he manage to put some pancake’s dough on the ceiling? They dressed a pretty table into the living room and her parents were back from the flea market when Chase put the last plate on the table.

“Aw, Dale, look at that! This is so sweet! They cooked for us.” Her mom was having tears in her eyes.

She hugged them both tightly, putting a kiss on top of their heads. Dale imitated her and after a lot of thanking and embracing, the four of them sat down to eat the brunch. The mood was full of love and from the outside, it looked like Chase was always part of their family.

This was pretty nice, maybe she could get used to this after all …


	13. meeting.

The beginning of the week was really strange.

At school, Chase stayed with Gert like when they were friends. He talked with her in the corridors and in the homeroom, walked with her to her locker or to her classrooms, smiled and waved at her when he saw her from across the school. He even lunched with her. Sometimes at the cafeteria and sometimes at the library, depending on what Gert preferred.

Helena kept giving her some teasing looks, every time they walked in the school library together, and Gert kept rolling her eyes in response.

The good point was she was able to help him with his studies, which was a lot of work to do. Chase wasn’t dumb, even if she exclaimed it many times before, he wasn’t technically an idiot. He was smart and happy to learn. He was even good in some courses like in Technology. Well, if he wanted to become an engineer that was best. But he was really terrible on Literature and Spanish.

Especially Spanish. She really had to find something to help him learn, or he’ll never get good grades in that subject.

On Monday she asked Alex if he wanted to join her club, explaining to the boy that Chase, Karolina and Nico will be there too. He shrugged on the mention of Chase’s name, but accepted when he heard Nico’s one. When she told Chase, Alex was coming to their first club meeting on Wednesday, he acted like a child.

“Seriously, do we really have to bring Wilder into our club?” He complained.

“Well, first of all, this is my club …” She insisted on the “ _my_ ”. “… And second, I wasn’t asking for your opinion, just keeping you in touch of the news, that’s all.”

He grumbled something and she smiled victoriously to him. After hours of him sulking and pouting like a baby, she told him to grow up and asked him what the hell was his problem with Alex anyway. He grunted and never answered, just telling her he was capitulating, and this was a victory to her.

On Tuesday, she went to talk to Molly, about her club. The little girl was happy to see Gert and happier to learn that the old crew was meeting up again. So, when Gert asked her if she wanted to join too, she replied happily: “Sure! Dude, we’re getting the band back together!”.

And Gert laughed, because Molly was just a positive and sweet bundle of joy and energy and spending time with her always made Gert happy.

On Wednesday, Chase was waiting for her after her afternoon courses. They walked together to the library and they entered the room together. All the others were already there and she could feel everyone’s eyes on them.

Nico was cross-legged on the table Helena had reserved them for the club meeting. Karolina was sitting on the chair next to her, her leg crossed, she was radiating class and beauty, as usual. Alex was on the other side of Nico, still standing, but his ass pressed on the table with his arms crossed on his chest. Molly was slumping on the chair next to Karolina, and when she saw them entered, a big grin appeared on her face.

They were also three other students Gert doesn’t remember speaking with before. An overweight boy, with shoulder length brown curly hair and matching eyes. Gert was pretty sure she saw him before in the hacking club of the school with Alex. A girl with square and curly brown hair with some pink strands of hairs. And another girl, a black woman with Afro hair who was wearing glasses.

Gert and Chase went to the table to meet everyone and Gert immediately felt a tension when the girl with pink strands saw Chase was there.

“OK, if everyone if here maybe we can start …” Said Gert.

“Hum … Excuse me?” Ask the girl while raising her hand, cutting her off.

“Uh … Yeah?” Questioned Gert, wondering what was going on.

“What is he doing here?” She added, pointing at Chase with a glare.

“He is in the club, just like you.” Gert frowned a little surprised by the girl aggressiveness toward Chase while he had done nothing to her.

“Why? Isn’t he one of the school brainless lacrosse player?” She hissed.

There was a heavy silent in the room and Gert didn’t let time to Chase to reply to the girl, already taking his defense for even she didn’t know what reasons.

“Hey!” She exclaimed offended. “First he is really smart.” She retorted, surprising everyone, especially Chase. “Second he’s not playing lacrosse anymore.”

Chase was staring at her with sparkling eyes and a wide grin. It was the first time she admitted that she thought he was smart and not an idiot.

“Why are you defending him, I thought he was part of what you want to undermine?” Asked the other girl

Great, now they were two of them against her.

“He’s not. He’s got nothing to do with that I’m fighting against.” She gave them a bad glare.

Didn’t they get that they have to team up to build a better future? All of them. And for people who wanted to fight injustice, they were pretty unfair themselves, judging Chase only because of what he looked like. OK, maybe he used to be a dumb jock or at least he used to hang out with some of them, but he also stopped two of them to rape one of their friends. He wasn’t like these guys they were trying to take down, Gert was certain of that.

The room went silence for a minute, while Gert and the girl with pink strands were battling with a glare at each other. Chase, who was sitting next to Gert, grabbed her hand softly under the table, surprising her. He pressed it gently before letting go and Gert turned to him. He gave her a smile that means _“Don’t pay attention to her, she’s not worth it”_ , making her smiled in returned and relaxed a little.

She heard someone clear his throat and Gert turned her face to the other, again.

“OK, if this club is just a way for you to spend time with your boyfriend, maybe I should leave and started mine because we’re clearly not on the same page here!” The girl exclaimed.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. And I wish you good luck with that because I’m a supportive person who wants to see all women succeed and do what makes them happy. Maybe you should try to be a little bit more like this.” Gert replied.

“Well, maybe you should try to be a little bit less blind by your feeling and actually fight for our rights!” She hissed back.

“I am fighting for everyone’s rights. Including the right to not be judged by how you look.”

“Don’t try to make us believe you actually give a shit about fighting injustice. You’re just like the others stupid girls in this school who forget who they are for a stupid boy.”

“Thanks for your concern, but I can think for myself.”

Gert was trying to stay calm, but God this girl was impossible.

“OK, I’m leaving. I heard enough of your bullshit for today.” The girl said while grabbing her stuff. “If there is anyone who wants to dismantle the system with me and actually do something …” She added, staring at the other girl who side with her earlier.

“Don’t tell me this twice.” The other girl reply while putting her bag on her shoulder. “Cooper, you should come with us too.” She said to the overweight boy.

Gert saw the guy hesitating.

“Come on, you owe that to Hilary.” The girl added when she saw his hesitation. “Don’t you want to fight for a world where woman like her can lead a country?”

Apparently Hilary was Cooper weakness because he yielded.

“I’m sorry Gert, but Kimmy is right, I own this to Hilary.” He capitulated “It’s not against you, I even make this cool t-shirt for your club, recycling the one from Hilary campaign.” He explained while pulling off the t-shirt from his bag.

It was the navy blue with white writing from Hilary last campaign, that said _“I’m with her”_ in capitals letters. Cooper modified the _“Her”_ with a purple pen to correct it into _“Gert”_ , so the t-shirt now said: _“I’m with Gert”_.

“Guess I’m not gonna used this one anymore, if you guys want to keep it?” He asked nicely.

Chase rose up immediately from his chair to grab the t-shirt and thanked Cooper. Gert gave him a surprised look, frowning her eyebrows under her glasses.

The three of them left, Kimmy was the last one to passed the door, she turned one last time to Gert, to give her a glare with a mean smirk, before slamming the library door, making Helena reprimand her.

“OK … That was … Unexpected.” Gert stated, still shocked. “Guess, it’s good that they weren’t the only people who join my club, because, clearly, Kimmy was staging a coup.”

“You’re OK?” Asked her Chase.

She turned her face to him, he was still standing up, with Cooper’s t-shirt in his hands.

“What are gonna do you that?” She asked, pointing to the fabric.

“I don’t know, maybe wear it? It’s a t-shirt, that’s what you supposed to do with that, right?” He answered her like it was obvious.

“Yeah sure, like you’re gonna wear that …” She snorted.

He gave her a challenging look, meaning _“Oh so you don’t think I’m capable of that?”_ , and a big smirk. Then he started to take off his own t-shirt. Gert gasped, what the hell was he doing? He was shirtless, in the school library, in front of her and their old crew, showing off his muscles and build up body. And he put the _“I’m with Gert”_ shirt and she needed to focused on how to breathe because clearly her brain suddenly stopped to work.

He smoothed the fabric with his hands, and looked at her with a proud smile on his face.

“So? What do you think of it?” He teased her.

“I … Uh …” She couldn’t find her word.

Dammit! Great, now she was speechless. Luckily she wasn’t alone in this room, and Karolina came to her rescue.

“Was the striptease in the middle of the school library, really necessary?” She looked at him with a jaded look on her face.

“Oh, come on, like you didn’t enjoy the show!” He teased her.

Gert clenched her jaw. Of course, this was too good to be true, Chase standing in the same room as Karolina without hitting on her … It had to happen. It was this way since Gert can’t remember when. Chase would compliment the blonde girl, or flirt with her under Gert eyes, leaving her completely heart broken, once again. So to cut off their little flirting game before it started, Gert decided to bring everyone attention back on why they were here in the first place.

“OK! Maybe we should talk about what we are gonna do with the Brandon and Lucas’ problem? And stopped marveling at Chase capacity to put a shirt on, congrats dude, you’re as smart as a five-year-old kid.” She said sarcastically.

Alex snorted and Gert smiled at him. Chase look at her with a hurt face and sat back down to his place, staying strangely quiet.

“So, what’s the plan?” Asked Karolina.

“Well, first we need to speak with Ms. Tezuka about what happened and see if she plans to do anything about it.” Gert said.

“No big chances about this, she always closed her eyes on all the crap the lacrosse team is doing in this school, just because they bring her a stupid trophy at the end of year.” Stated Alex.

“Hey, you know how hard it is to win that stupid trophy as you named it?” Got offended Chase.

“Well, as hard as winning the one from the grammar club championship, but still, nobody lets us being dick with the rest of the school.” Replied Alex.

“Well, maybe because …” Started Chase.

“OK, that’s enough!” Gert cut them off. “We’re here to take down two assholes, not to bargain about which school competition is more worthy, even if we all know the debate team wins this contest.”

They both stopped and Gert started exposing her plan again.

“So, Karolina, you talk with the principal, if you want one of us can come with you for support and witness all the bullshits she’s gonna serve you.”

“Sure, Nico, you want to come with me?” The blonde girl asked hopefully.

“Yeah, no problem. Female solidarity, right?” The goth girl replied with a smile.

“Super. Karolina, you’re probably gonna have to talk with your parents too. I know it sucks but they’re gonna learn it one way or another …”

Karolina sighed.

“Yeah, I know …”

“I can come with you for that too, if you want?” Offered Nico.

“Thanks Nico, it’ll be super.” Karolina replied, smiling more to the Asian girl.

“OK, super. We need to find if there is other case like this in this school, maybe talk with the lacrosse players to see if they can testify or help us. Chase, you think you can do this?”

“Yeah, I mean, I can try. I’m not sure they welcome me with a hug, but a lot of the boys from the team are nice guys, just need to make sure Brandon and Lucas aren’t there. If I can make one of them to talk, I’m sure the rest will follow.”

“We need to put some pressure on them, make them know they’re not invincible. If we show them you have something on them and we are not afraid to use it, they’ll start to freak out. Brandon and Lucas are two wimps, they’ll started to chicken out and maybe confessed. I could hack their social medias, see if I could find a leverage against them?” Proposed Alex.

“Sure, great idea!” Exclaimed Gert.

She heard Chase grumbled again, and decided to ignore him.

“What about the two of us?” Asked Molly, mentioning herself and Gert. “What are you supposed to do?”

“Well …” Thought Gert.

“I could ask the dance squad if they know anything? I’m auditioning for joining the team this year. The tryouts are next week.” Said Molly.

“You want to join the dance squad?” Asked Gert surprised. “You know they just reinforcing hegemonic masculinity while marginalizing women’s identity.”

“Sure, but I love the outfits. It can of save my life last week, remember?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was more me but …” Gert said.

“Actually that was me too, remember?” Added Chase.

“Fine, as you want.” Gert rolled her eyes and he smirked. “Molly will go talk with the cheerleaders to see if she can find something.”

“It’s a dancing squad, not cheerleaders.”

“Yeah, whatever, dance squad is just cheerleading without pompoms.” Stated Gert.

“And you, what are you gonna do?” Asked Karolina.

“Maybe Gert can help Chase with his task?” Offered Molly.

“Uh, I’m 99% sure that the lacrosse team won’t talk to me.” Replied Gert.

“Yeah, but you could keep an eye on Brandon and Lucas while Chase talk to the rest of the team, make sure to warn him if they show up. You’re always was an awesome sleuth when we used to play hide-and-seek” Added Molly.

“Good idea Molls!” Said Chase with a smile.

Molly smirked at her and Gert understand she just got screwed by a 14 years-old.

Great, like she wasn’t spending enough time with Chase already …


	14. condoms.

“Oh my God! Dale, look!” her mom screamed when Chase and her got back home after the club meeting.

Chase had taken his car today, to drive the two of them to school, because they didn’t know how long the meeting was going to last. Her parents were already in the house when they returned, cooking dinner together in the kitchen.

“Jesus! This is one of the best day of my life!” Her dad added.

They were both staring at Chase and her, with joy tears in their eyes.

“What’s going on? Did you guys find a cure to cancer?” Gert asked a bit lost at her parent’s behavior.

“I’m so happy for you kids! We always suspected this was going to happened one day and … Aw, this is so cute.” Her mom totally ignored her question, and she wiped away the few tears that were leaving her eyes.

“Come into my arms, son!” Dale exclaimed while rushing to Chase to hugged him. “Guess I can finally really call you that now, this never been more accurate.”

Gert stared at them completely lost.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” She asked.

“Well, the two of you finally dating. This is so sweet! How did that happen? Is this because you’re living together now? Look, I’m not against you two being together while living in the same house, but be careful kids and use protection!”

Gert eyes widened at Stacey’s words. She was starting to blush of embarrassment and to be honest, she saw Chase wasn’t really feeling comfortable speaking of sexual protection with Gert’s mom. Dale had also made a face at the mention of his daughter sexual life and suddenly he looked less happy about she and Chase being a thing.

“Stace, maybe this is a little too soon for speaking about this?” Dale said, clearly not enchanted by the turning of this conversation.

“Oh Dale come on! Gert is not a little baby anymore. She’s a woman with needs and sexuality shouldn’t be taboo. We have already talk about this with her to make sure she’s ready, but maybe she needs more information. Actually, maybe Chase have some questions about it too. Chase, you know how to use condoms, right?” Stacey was asking this like she was asking Chase about his day.

Chase was staring at Gert’s mom with his mouth open, clearly in state of shock. This wasn’t the kind of conversation he was expecting to have when he moved in, but Gert knew how embarrassing her parents could be. OK, they were open-minded and you could speak about anything with them, but that was a little too far right now.

“Uh … I …” Chase stammered.

“You need to be sure to buy the right size.” She added casually. “A lot of men are taking the wrong one because they believe they should be ashamed to buy condoms for small penises, but there’s nothing wrong with having an under average penis Chase. Actually the average size in the United States is …”

“Mom! Could you please stop?” Gert exclaimed to cut her off.

Holy crap, this was the most embarrassing moment of Gert’s life, and God knows they were plenty of them. Her mom just had talked to Chase freaking Stein, Gert’s childhood best friend and former/not so former crush, about the size of his penis. This had to be the end of the world because Gert couldn’t dare to look at Chase again after that. 

“I just don’t want to remind you about IST or pregnancy because someone used a too big condom.” Stacey explained. “Even if I can’t wait to be a grandma!”

“Aw, your kids are going to be so cute!” Added Dale happily.

Great, now he was saying stupidities with her. And Gert wasn’t sure if she could survive to the awkwardness of both her parents.

“But not right now, first you finish your studies, then you can make me all the grandchildren you want!” Continued Stacey.

“Mom, dad, stop it!” Gert screamed. “Are you insane?! Chase and I aren’t together!” She was certain to be red like a tomato now.

“Really?” Said her dad with a disappointed and pouting face. “Then why is he wearing that t-shirt?”

Gert cursed under her breath. Fuck. She almost forgot about that stupid _“I’m with Gert”_ t-shirt.

“It’s not … It’s just for my school club, OK?”

“Oh … So you guys aren’t dating?” Asked her mom disenchanted.

“No, we’re not! For God sake, what the hell is wrong with you guys?!”

“Muffin! Calm down, we were just showing you how supportive we were!” Said Dale.

“By asked Chase how tall his penis his?! Jesus! This is so embarrassing!”

Chase was still standing awkwardly next to her, redder than her if this was possible. Clearly if he could disappear in a mouse hole, he would jump there. Before this conversation became anymore uncomfortable, she rushed to her room, why does Stacey and Dale had to be always so embarrassing?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, about yesterday …” Started Chase.

They were in his car, none of them really wanting to ask Stacey or Dale to drive them to school after their last conversation. The dinner after that was awkward, her parents trying to start a conversation without success because Gert kept pushing them away. And Chase politely answered, but he was still afraid that Stacey will bring the condoms subject on the table again, so he mostly gave small and evasive answers.

“Please, don’t talk about this.” She begged him. “That was too embarrassing.”

“If you find this embarrassing, what should I say?” Chase joked. “Gosh, your mom asked me if I have a small dick, I could never have a serious conversation with her again.”

Gert busted out laughing and Chase followed her.

“I’m so sorry.” She managed to say. “Sometimes I wish they weren’t so embarrassing.”

“They’re pretty cool, most of the time.” He shrugged.

Gert gave him a questionable look.

“What? It’s true! Sometimes you might have to get through some awkward moments with them, but at least, you laugh. I’m 99% sure that this is the kind of conversations I’ll never have with my dad.”

Gert pictured Victor Stein siting with his son to talk about sexuality and protection and she snorted.

“Yeah, definitely the kind of stuff your dad will never discuss with you.” She admitted. “Especially the part where the size of your penis doesn’t define your masculinity.”

“It’s not small by the way.” He grumbled.

“Really Chase?” Gert scoffed. “See? That’s exactly what I was talking about. The society is making you believe you have to have a big dick to be a man and you’re just trying to fit in.”

“I’m not trying to fit in or whatever, my dick isn’t small. That’s a fact.” He defended himself.

They were on the school’s parking now and Chase had cut the engine.

“Sure.” She rolled her eyes while grabbing her bag and opening the door to get out of the car and this stupid conversation at the same time.

“Hey! It’s true!” He offended, following her.

“Maybe, but you are ridiculous right now.”

“I’m not.” He argued. “And my dick is not small.” He added after a small silence, just to piss her off more.

She stopped walking to look at him in the eyes and exhaled loudly. He was staring at her with a smirk, proud of the effect he was having on her. He was just messing with her and as usual she fell into the trap.

“You’re impossible.” She stated to cut off this absurd argument.

He laughed, amuse and she started walking again to go to classes. Chase followed her, but she decided to ignore him purposely, just to annoy him. If he wanted to act like a child, she could do that too. They were both ridiculous, but she didn’t care. It was like they were kids again, fighting each other, teasing each other. It felt nice.

She spent the rest of the morning, pouting and ignoring him every time he was speaking to her. And as fun as it was, Chase decided he had enough of it at lunch. He was waiting for her at the entry of the school’s cafeteria with two trays in his hands.

“Peace offering?” He offered himself, handing her one of the tray.

“Vegan tacos?” She said while examining the contents of it.

“You love them right?” He said while leading them both to a free table.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if it’s enough for me to forgive you …” She teased.

“Well, I did save you from standing in the line, and having to wait behind the guy who love to play with his bogeys while he waits.” Chase replied.

Gert made a face of disgust at the mention of the guy.

“OK. Maybe you did deserve forgiveness.” She laughed.

And she wasn’t sure she was mentioning to their silly fight of the fact he stopped being friend with her when Amy ran away. Chase smiled to her fondly like he was thinking the same as her.

They had almost finish their lunch when Karolina appeared. She told them that she talked with her parents last night, after the meeting. Her mom was furious and wanted to send both Brandon and Lucas in the desert for just having thought about touching her baby girl.

“I didn’t even know she could be that scary, my mom said she could use the church to cover their disappearance … I never saw her that angry. I calmed her, telling her Brandon and Lucas didn’t succeed, thanks to you Chase. And now she wants to invite you for dinner tomorrow, if that’s ok for you?”

“Sure, I’d be more than happy to come.” He replied with a big smile.

Gert grumbled. Of course he’d be more than happy to spend the evening at Karolina’s. To spend some alone time with Karolina.

“I decided to speak with the principal tomorrow after classes. I told my mom that Nico will come with me, but she insisted on coming too …” She said disappointed.

Gert frowned. Did Karolina sound so disappointed because she wanted to spend some alone time with Nico? She knew the two of them were close before the band split up, but she didn’t realized Karolina missed with Nico so much. Just like she missed Chase … Did that mean, that … Oh. Gert decided she need to speak with Karolina about this later.

Karolina talked with them a little more, and soon it was time for their afternoon courses to begin.

Gert had Art with Nico. Usually, Nico stayed on a corner of the room, not talking to anyone including Gert. But today, their teacher asked them to paired up for a project. They had to show how the _“Land Art_ ” imposed itself in the America culture and why it is a crucial environmental issues. Gert turned to Nico, to see if she wanted to pair up with her, and the Asian girl gave her a small smile.

They were doing some research on their tablet when Nico broke the silence.

“So, you and Chase, nothing new?”

Gert looked at her confused.

“What new should there be?”

“Seriously?” Nico rolled her eyes. “You two are living together, spending all time possible in school together, going to your club together … And don’t think I didn’t saw him grabbing your hand under the table yesterday, when Kimmy was being bitchy with you.”

“I … It wasn’t … I just …” She stammered, making the gothic laughed.

“Come on Gert, you two are practically glued together since he moved into your house … Are you sharing a bed too?” She asked while raising her eyebrows.

“No!” Gert screamed under the reprimand of their teacher, so she hushed her voice. “No. Why does every one asking me if I’m dating Chase?”

“Oh, I don’t know … Maybe because you two looked at each other like your about to jump on the other any second to kiss to death?” Replied Nico casually. “Wait, who else asked you if you were dating Chase?”

“My parents …” She sighed, ignoring the first thing she said on purpose. “My mom also asked us if we use protection … And told Chase he should be proud of his dick, no matter how small it was …”

“No! You’re kidding, right?”

Gert shook her head to say no and Nico laughed.

“Oh my God, your parents truly are the best!” The Asian girl added.

“Yeah, well I’m pretty sure Chase is traumatized now but sure, they’re cool.” Gert shrugged.

“Oh don’t worry, you can comfort him, I’m pretty sure he’ll loved that …” She said, winking and nudging her.

Gert grunted and Nico giggled at her reaction.

“Could you take care of your love life instead of mine?” Gert grumbled.

Suddenly, her friend froze and she look at her with a weird face.

“What?” Asked Gert a little worried for her friend.

“Alex offered me to go out with him. As in dating.” Nico answered.

“Oh.” Gert said.

She wasn’t shocked about it because Alex always used to have a crush on Nico. But the fact that he finally gathered enough courage to ask her out on a romantic date was pretty surprising.

“What do you say to him?” Gert asked.

“I said yes.” She replied after a small silence, but her face was not really showing off happiness.

“If you said yes, why are you looking like someone who just got her favorite _My Little Pony_ toy stolen?” Gert frowned.

“Hey! I stop playing with them when I was six!” Nico got offended, making them both chuckled.

Then, she straightened her face and added: “I just … I don’t know if I like him this way … I said yes because I did miss him this past few years. I’m just not sure if I missed him as my friend or if I wanted something more …”

Gert grabbed Nico’s hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“Guess that what dates are for. You’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.” She said.

Nico looked at her with a small smile.

“Sure. And if it works, we could go on double dates with you and Chase.” The Asian girl joked, making Gert roll her eyes. “But if it doesn’t … Let’s just hope our friendship will still manage to get out of this …” She added with a sad face.

Gert stayed silent. Nico was right. They just kind of get the band back together, it will be stupid to have them splitting apart again because of a relationship that didn’t work. She was really hopping her friends group will stay together no matter what.

She had missed them so much this past years …


	15. Mr. Bunny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thanks to SurprisedMe who proofread and corrected this chapter :)

Gert tried to stay focused on the TV when she heard footstep on the staircase. She knew it was Chase because her parents were at the supermarket doing the grocery shopping for the week – and Gert was praying for them to not buy condoms.

It was Saturday morning and she didn’t sleep well last night. Chase was at Karolina’s and Gert would never admit to anyone that she stayed up until he got home, at midnight. All the scenarios playing inside her head since then. Midnight. What the hell was he doing with Karolina until midnight? No, she didn’t want to think about that, she already knew the answer.

“Morning.” Said Chase with a smile, eyes still a little drowsy from sleep.

He was wearing a grey sweat pants with a white t-shirt. His hair was tousled, all messy and sticking up every which way.

_How does he manage to be so cute all the time?_

Gert was feeling even more ugly than usual in her black sport short, a garnet sport vest – she only buys sport clothes for lazing at home because they’re comfortable – and her navy blue loose t-shirt.

Yeah the same outfit (minus the vest) she was wearing last Saturday, when Chase pressed his hot and wet body against her and she … Well, you already know what happened in the shower after that.

“Morning.” She grumbled, barely audible.

“How are you?”

“Good.” She replied in the same tone.

He came behind the sofa she was slumped on, and put his arms next to her head on top of the sofa backrest.

“What are you watching?” He asked.

“The Handmaid’s Tale.”

“Is it good?”

“Yeah.”

There was an awkward silence before he decided to break it.

“Are you mad at me?” He asked confused.

“I’d just like to watch my series in peace. Can you give me that? One hour without you stuck to me? Don’t we saw each other enough already? Or do you need to invade my personal space even more?”

She couldn’t see his face, but she was sure she’d hurt him. She regretted her words as soon as they escaped her mouth, but she was tired and mad because he spent half of last night with Karolina.

“I … I’m sorry …” He stammered. “I’ll leave you alone.”

And he headed to the kitchen. She bit her lips. God, why did she had to be mean to the people she loves the most every time she was scared of losing them?

She tried to focus on her episode playing on the screen, but all she can think about was the hurt puppy face Chase was probably making when he left the living room. She could glimpse him from where she was, the kitchen was next to the living room and there was a wide hall to connect the two rooms. He was making himself a protein shake. He grabbed it and headed back to his room. He came back downstairs a few minutes later, in some sport shorts and t-shirt, with his headphone on. He left the house without even looking at her and slammed the door behind him, the sound resonant in the house and in her heart.

Chase didn’t talk to her for the rest of the day. He stayed in his room, only coming downstairs for lunch and dinner, and both times he ignored her.

And she was the only one to blame.

After dinner she was in her room trying to read a book, but it was pointless. Every time she tried to focus her mind went back to Chase. She sighed and snapped her book shut.

This was her fault and she needed to do something.

She got up from her bed and headed to Chase’s room on the other side of the hall. Before she could think about this and chicken out, she knocked on his door.

“Come in!” She heard from the inside.

She opened the door slowly, carefully slipping inside. Chase was sitting on his bed, his computer on and in his lap. When she entered the room he looked at her in surprise, and she gulped. She could see in his eyes he was still hurt from her words, so she decided to just say it.

“I’m sorry.” She said quickly.

He looked at her confused and frowned.

“What?” He asked.

She sighed, God she hated apologizing.

“I’m sorry. For this morning. I was a bitch to you for no reason. I’m sorry.” She explained.

“Oh.”

There was an unbearable pause. Gert stared at her fingers and started to play with them nervously.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said, it was mean and not true.” She added sheepishly.

“So … You don’t think I’m smothering you because I’m sticking you 24/7?” He asked.

“No!” She replied quickly, raising her head up to meet his eyes. “It’s …” She took a deep breath. “I just hadn’t slept well last night and I was tired … I’m sorry I took out my fatigue nerves on you, you didn’t deserve that.”

He chuckled a little.

“It’s ok, I understand. I hadn’t sleep so much last night either …”

Great, now she wanted to murder him again. Before she could think of it, her mouth spoke without consulting her brain.

“Yeah, must had been a wild night with Karolina …” 

He looked at her with wide eyes.

“What?! No! I haven’t slept with Karolina!” He exclaimed.

“Really? So, you stayed till midnight at her house to play scrabble?” She said bitterly.

“No, we … Wait a second, how do you know I came home at midnight?” He asked suspiciously.

“I … It’s … I’m a light sleeper, OK? You wake me up when you came back!”

Liar, she was scrutinizing her driveway from the corridor window till she saw his car came back, then she rushed to her bedroom and stick her ear against the door to hear him going to his own room.

“I made no noise.” He stated. “I was very careful about that.”

“Well not careful enough, obviously.” She rolled her eyes.

He got up from his bed and came closer to her, smirking.

“Did you stay up last night until I got back?” He teased her, only a few inches away from her now.

“What?! No … I … I told you I’m a light sleeper and … You’ve got loud feet, OK? Sounded like an elephant was going upstairs.” She was blushing.

“Sure.” Chase was smiling at her, he clearly didn’t buy her lie, shit.

“So, why did you stay so late at Karolina’s if you weren’t sleeping with her.” She asked to change the subject. “Not that I care …” She added when she saw him smirking more.

“Well, first, her dad spent two hours talking about his career, if we can call that like that, and you know Frank Dean’s favorite subject is Frank Dean.”

That was true. Frank Dean was so in love with himself, it was surprising his head still fit through the door.

“Second, Karolina talked with me about her meeting with the principal.” Chase added.

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“How did it go?” She questioned.

“Not so good … The principal agreed to listen to Karolina, probably only because her mom was there, but … There’s no proofs of what she said. And even if I testify, it’s two against two, so …”

“Shit …”

“Yeah, Karolina’s mom wasn’t happy about it either. But Karolina explained our plan to her and she agreed to wait and see if we can pull it off before she sends a hit man after Brandon and Lucas.”

Gert scoffed; she didn’t know Leslie Dean could be so scary.

“Then, we caught up on what happened to us these past few years and time flew by before I’d realized it.”

Gert’s heart pitched when he mentioned loosing track of time with Karolina.

“Just warn next time, okay? We never know what can happen at night …”

“Aw! Were you worried about me?” He teased her with an unbearable smile.

“Shut up!” She hissed.

“Don’t worry mom, next time I’ll text you.” He joked.

She grimaced.

“Don’t call me mom. Ever again. It’s too weird.” She answered, making him laugh.

She took a look around the room. She hadn’t come here since Chase move in. There was a desk against the wall for him to work at, but otherwise the decoration of the former guest room hadn’t change much. The bedsheets weren’t from her house, she thought maybe Chase brought his own to feel a little bit more at home. And there was some lacrosse trophies on the shelf above the desk. There was also some spare computer parts and tinkering tools scattered all over the room. Probably some engineering project Chase was working on.

The room felt a little like him, a mix between sport and engineering. And the painting of the naked chick still on top of his bed.

“Are you ever to take that thing down?” She pointed at it, laughing.

“I didn’t want to hurt your parents by taking it down. Even if she is giving me nightmares.” He joked.

“I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind you redecorating more. It’s your room for the rest of the year.”

“Maybe I could go to my house tomorrow and grab some stuff from my room. If you want, you can come with me?” He proposed. “If you don’t mind being glued to me again, of course.”

She rolled her eyes but smiled, and agreed to come with. Her eyes kept glancing over the room when she saw something that made her stop.

“Oh my God! I can’t believe, you still have it!” Gert exclaimed while rushing to the room big blue armchair. Sitting there was an old stuffed animal, a white rabbit who’d turned grey over the years.

Chase rushed to stop her when he realized what she was talking about, but it was too late. She took the rabbit in her hand and turned to Chase.

“Mr. Bunny!” She exclaimed.

Chase groaned, face turning a little red.

“Oh, don’t be embarrassed. It’s cute you still need him to sleep.” She teased him.

“I don’t need him to sleep!” He replied, offended.

“Really Chase? Come on! It’s OK, you can admit it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I’m not ashamed of anything, I just, keep him here because … I packed him by mistake while doing my cardboard, that’s all.”

“Sure.” She said, giving her move toothy smile.

“Instead of bothering me, why don’t we just watch a movie? I was about to put something on, but I haven’t picked yet.”

“Sure, but only if Mr. Bunny can watch it with us.” She said to piss him off a bit more.

Chase groaned again and gave her a glare, but it only made her laugh harder.

“So, what movie do you want to see?” She asked once she calmed down a little.

“What about a horror movie?” He offered. “You can hold onto my arms if you’re too scared …” He teased her with a grin.

“First, that was patriarchal. Second, if I do need some reassuring cuddling during the movie, I’ll go for Mr. Bunny.” She put Chase in his place.

“It’s your lost, but I respect your choice.” He pouted.

Chase put on one of the _“Resident Evil”_ movies, Gert wasn’t sure which one it was. She already saw all of them because Chase always picked those back when the group did movie nights and it was his turn. But except for the gory killing and the zombie jump-scares, the movie wasn’t scary to Gert. And soon, she started to feel sleepy.

Before she realized it, she was nodding to sleep in Chase’s bed. Her body curled on her side, her face brushing Chase’s arm, her hand inadvertently on his chest. Before she could think to move it she sensed him grabbing it with his own, tangling their fingers together. Gert suddenly felt very much awake, but she didn’t dare to open her eyes to look at him. So she stayed where she was, her heart pounding in her chest and faked sleeping.

At one point, she sensed Chase fall asleep next to her. She could hear little snores coming from him and he was still holding her hand. Gert opened her eyes to look at him and chuckled. He was pretty cute even when he was asleep.

OK, now she was sounding like a psycho, staring at her crush when he was sleeping.

Her mind was still working fast, looking for a way to get out of this awkward situation. And either Chase was a mind-reader or her thinking was too loud because she heard him groan.

“What’s wrong?” He grumbled, his eyes still close.

It caught her off guard and she twitched, surprised to hear his half-asleep groggy voice.

“I … Uh …” She cleared her throat, unsure of what to say.

Chase opened his eyes to look at her, suddenly worried about her.

“Gert?” He called.

Her mind was looking for a way out and she blurted the worst and most unbelievable lie of her life: “I just can’t sleep because of the movie.”

Chase looked at her frowning.

“Really?” He asked, astonished.

Gert was practically sure he knew she was lying, but he didn’t confront her about it through.

“Do you want to talk about something else?” He said softly.

She looked at him, caught off guard again. But she pulled herself together quickly and soon her mouth opened and she started a monologue about the inherent racism of the early women’s movement. She didn’t know why she chose this subject in particular, but it was making her think about something else than the fact Chase Stein was still holding her hand … Late at night … In his bed.

She wasn’t sure if Chase understood everything she was saying or if he was just happy to hear her talk, but he didn’t interrupt her and if she wasn’t watching him staring at her right now she would have thought he had fallen asleep again. Lulled off by her boring speech.

Then her monologue drifted on how technology was shaping fourth wave feminism and he seemed even more interested in that. Probably because technology was his raison d'etre.

She didn’t know how, but they ended up talking about the water stain on the celling of the janitor closet at Atlas Academy. They were debating if it looked more like an acorn (Gert) or Danny DeVito (Chase).

It reminded her of when the group was all little, having sleepovers at their different houses. Chase and Gert’s sleeping bags always ended up right next to one other and, usually, they would stay up for hours, whispering together until late into the night.

And now, she was feeling really sleepy, her eyes closing slowly. She yawned and Chase brushed his fingers across her hand, which he was still holding tenderly in his own.

This time she didn’t freak out about it and just felt asleep, not even trying to let go of his hand …


	16. constellations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

Gert woke up to Chase snoring next to her. She smiled. He was really cute when he was sleeping, not that he wasn’t cute the rest of the time. His hair was all messed up, some strands spilling onto his face.

They were still holding hands.

She let go of his, to approach her from his face, to brush his hair back on top of his head. She saw his eyes blinked and rushed to bring her hand back to her own body, hiding it under the covers.

His eyes fluttered fully open, meeting hers and smiling.

“Morning.” he murmured in a soft almost-whisper. 

“Morning.” she replied just as softly.

They were staring at each other and Gert felt so good like this. She didn’t ever want to leave this bed. But as they’d stayed up until well into last night, it was already almost noon and they were still supposed to go to Chase’s house today to grab some of his stuffs.

“We should get up.” she said, but couldn’t bring herself to start moving.

Chase whined and pressed his head in the pillow.

“Humph.” was his only answer.

“Come on, Chase.” she said while shaking his shoulder. 

“Fiiiiiiiiiine!” he surrendered with an unhappy groan.

They had a quick breakfast, or maybe more brunch, together and got ready to go to Chase’s house. Gert was struck with the weirdness of being there for the first time in two years.

The house had stood empty since Janet and Victor had left for New York and Chase. They’d even paid a cleaning crew to come by once a week. Clearly, money wasn’t the first of concern for the Steins. The cleaning crew wasn’t there today though, which left Chase and Gert alone in the house.

Chase deactivated the burglar alarm and they walked up the incredibly big stone staircase to his room. Gert felt even weirder. It had changed since the last time she’d been there. There was some sports stuff scattered all over the place. A team logo jersey, probably a famous lacrosse players’, framed and hung on the wall. But there was also a giant periodic table poster hanged on the wall next to the desk and many physics notes tacked next to it.

And then she saw _it_.

The wall next to his door was covered floor to ceiling by a giant black clip board with beautiful, painstakingly hand drawn pictures tacked to it. There was the big dipper, Ursa Major and Minor, Virgo, Pisces, all the known constellations were spread across the wall, both the actual star shapes and animal forms superimposed over them.

The board looked like the whole galaxy was pinned to it.

Gert felt confused. When they were stargazing in eighth grade she did all of the work and now his room looked like a space nerds’ hideout.

“Are you serious?” She asked him.

“What?” he replied.

“What’s all this?” she pointed at all the constellations documentation papers on his clipboard.

“The constellations?” he answered, confused at why she was angry at him.

“Yeah, I can recognize the constellations, thanks. But since when can you?”

“Since always.” Chase shrugged “I’ve been going on camping trips with my Mom when Dad was away for work since I was four. We used to go stargazing. She taught me all about the constellations.”

“Then why did I have to do all the work for out astronomy projects in eight grade?!” she hissed.

“Because you loved to do it?” he tried and when he saw the glare Gert was giving him intensify, he felt the need to justify himself. “It’s true! You always loved to take the lead for our school projects. Plus, you laughed when I told you I could set the telescope up.”

“Because I thought you were messing with me. How was I supposed to know you were serious? You were spending all your time talking about sports or girls. I had no idea you were actually an astronomy geek back then.” she replied and it was the truth, Chase had never mentioned his passion for astronomy before.

To be honest, there were a lot of things he never mentioned before. And Gert was really confused about it. It was like she’d been discovering a whole new side of him since he started living with her. She always knew he was smart and was just putting on a show in front of his lacrosse “friends”. But it looked like he had put on a show for her too, hiding things from her this whole time. And if he was able to hide the little stuff like this from her who knew what else he kept to himself.

“It wasn’t something I liked to talk about …” he shrugged.

“Why not?” she frowned.

After a short silence, he sighed and started talking again: “It was just our thing, my Mom’s and mine. The little trips to stargaze together. I didn’t want my dad to know about it. So I kept it secret. To everyone.”

Gert sensed he wasn’t telling her everything here, but he was begging her with his eyes to not dig further. She always knew Chase’s dad was a complicated subject. Chase always closed up every time someone mentioned the name of Victor Stein and, as much as Gert would have loved for her friend to talk to her about his problems, he clearly wasn’t ready to do it right now. So she decided to be nice for once and not push him any further.

“You could have least have told me. It would have saved me a lot of time if you had helped me on the work instead of playing Candy Crush and sexting Eiffel.” she reproached him playfully.

He chuckled, knowing she was just messing with him and happy she was moving on from the Victor Stein subject.

“Well, I had to occupy myself, right? You were clearly ignoring me for the telescope so …” he jested. “And by the way, I wasn’t sexting Eiffel.”

“Sure.” she rolled her eyes.

“It’s true!” he said indignantly.

“I saw the video she sent you of herself, and clearly there wasn’t a whole lot of clothes involved.” she said, making face at the memory.

“First,” he said, holding up one finger, “it was a video of her practicing dancing. Second, she was wearing shorts and a sport bra. And third, she sent it to all her contacts. Not just me.”

“Well, if cheer choreography wasn’t so patriarchal and provocative, maybe I wouldn’t have mistaken it for sexting.” Gert said defensively, rolling her eyes.

Chase laughed at Gert trying to hide the irritated face she wanted to make at the mention of Eiffel. This girl was truly the worst. Maybe because she was the complete opposite of Gert. And that was probably why Chase was taking so much interest in the girl instead of her.

Gert might also be a little jealous of the attention Eiffel was getting from the boy, but she’d never say that out loud.

“Yeah, well it’s Eiffel. She always loves being the center of attention.” Chase shrugged.

“Yeah, like you didn’t love it too …” Gert grumbled.

“Being the center of attention?” Chase frowned, a little lost.

“No, her doing anything to catch _your_ eye.”

And then he started to smirk cockily at her, and she got a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Are you jealous?” he teased.

“What?! No!” she exclaimed, her face instantly flaming beet red.

He was almost as red as she was, biting his lower lip between his teeth to hold back the laugh that wanted to escape.

“I’m not jealous of Eiffel, OK!” she screamed. “She’s pathetic and self-center and …” Gert was looking for words to justify her lie, but it was complicated. “Aren’t you supposed to be packing up your stuff, anyways? We don’t have all day!” she hissed to change the subject.

“Sure.” he chuckled with an amused glance.

He took off the framed sports jersey from his wall, presumably to put it over of his headboard at home instead of the naked woman. He also grabbed some other stuff from the drawers and after a few minutes he was ready to leave. She helped him carry everything to the car and didn’t speak again until they were both buckled into their seats.

“You have no reasons to be jealous of her at all, you know?” he whispered.

“What?” she asked to be sure she hadn’t misheard him.

“Eiffel. You don’t have any reason to be jealous of her. You are _way_ more interesting than she is.” he said, avoiding her eyes.

Gert could feel her heart beating faster. She was always telling herself she was better than girls like Eiffel, even though she knew it was wrong and patriarchal to be mean about other girls just to make herself feel better. Still, she knew that she was smarter than Eiffel and, internalized societal misogyny aside, hoped to be a better person than her. But hearing Chase say it, it was something Gert never excepted to happen.

She was staring at him, her mouth opened, looking for something to say. After a few second of silence from her, Chase finally turned to her, most likely to see if she wasn’t having a stroke or something. 

They were staring at each other in a strange silence and before any of them could break it, Gert’s phone ringing. She jumped a little, surprised by the loud sound and the sudden cut off of what was quickly turning into a moment. She grabbed her phone to see who it was and her eyes widen at the name of the screen.

It was Alex.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Monday, the merry band met in the school library before classes to listen to Alex. He had called everyone to bring this meeting together, and they listened as he explained what he’d find about Brandon and Lucas.

“So I hacked those assholes social media network and I found something. Apparently Karolina wasn’t the first girl they tried to take advantage of. I found an old conversation from last year between Brandon and Lucas. This is what they wrote …”

He made a few inexplicable tapping sounds on his laptop and a blown-up version of his screen appeared on the smart board.

_Lucas: U K bro?_

_Brandon: Yeah. That bitch was lucky her friends were here._

_Lucas: I k but we’ve got your back bro don’t worry. Just 2 bad you couldn’t get your shot …_

_Brandon: nvm she was ugly anyway_

“God, they are so disgusting …” Nico restrained herself from vomiting.

“Okay, we need to find this girl to see if she’s OK!” exclaimed Karolina.

“I think I remember what party they’re talking about.” Chase started to explain. “Brandon invited me to go with the rest of the team, but my dad made me go with him and my mom to a business thing. When I got to school the next day I heard there was some kind of fight at a party, but they said it was just some other team starting shit.”

“You sure it’s the same party?” asked Gert.

“Well the dates match …” he replied, pointing to the time stamps on the screen.

“Then we need to talk to the rest of the team, see if one of them saw anything. Or can help us find the girl.” Gert said.

“Sure.” he smiled at her. “Partners?” he asked, extending his hand.

She clapped it with hers, laughing at his childish behavior but secretly touched by it.

“Partners.” she replied with a smile.

Gert tried to ignore the teasing glance Nico was giving her from across the table. And she was relieved when the bell rang, breaking up their meeting and Nico’s teasing on the same time.

They all went to classes and she and Chase talked strategy. They had to find a time when Brandon and Lucas wouldn’t be with the rest of the team. Chase said they were usually the last to enter the changing room after practice and it was driving coach Alphona nuts to always had to scream for them to hurry up.

That gave Gert an idea.

They waited for Thursday to put their new plan in action. The lacrosse team was practicing after classes as usual and Gert was out on the field waiting for her chance. Chase was going to wait in the changing room for the team to come in while Gert was going to make sure Brandon and Lucas wouldn’t come in while he was there.

For that she grabbed their sports bottles while they were warming up and put some of Stacey’s medicals herbs inside that would make them sick. She was hiding under the bleachers, spying on the players from there. They finished their cool down and started to headed inside. Brandon and Lucas lagged behind, talking and, as usual, objectifying their classmates.

“Did you seen Eiffel’s ass? God that girl is so hot.” Brandon said, taking a swig from his bottle. Lucas had already done the same.

Gert made a disgusted face and tried not to react. God, he was such a pig. After a few more minutes of misogynic and sexist talk between the two assholes, Gert saw their faces turn pale. The herbs were already taking effect. They both rushed to the closest garbage to throw up. They stayed there for a few minutes, bent over and heaving.

After a few minutes of this the boys collapsed in the grass and Gert rushed to the door of the changing room. She knocked five times, signaling Chase he was almost out of time. She ran back inside as fast as she could and met Chase coming out the other side. She grabbed his hand and pulled them both into an alcove.

They saw Brandon and Lucas struggling to the nurse’s office and before she could start celebrating, they heard footsteps coming their way down the hall. They couldn’t leave without being seen and it would look so much like they’d both come out of the boys’ locker room.

So Gert got the worst idea ever.

She grabbed Chase’s face and pressed her lips against his.

He froze, completely shocked, but soon he put his hands on her head too, and kissed her back hungrily. She pushed her tongue against his mouth and he let her in with a moan. He pressed her against the wall, pushing his body against her, but he was gentle despite the passion he was putting into playing with her tongue.

“Stein! What the hell are you doing here?!” Coach Alphona shouted, breaking them apart. “You’re not in the team anymore! Find another spot for your making out sessions!”

She bit her swollen lips. Her breath was halting and she was red all over her face. She glanced at Chase and he looked as wrecked as she felt. He seemed totally zooned out, not knowing where he was or what to do, and coach Alphona was glaring at them. So before he could start shouting again, she grabbed Chase’s hand and pulled them both out of there.

“Shit, that was close.” She said, relieved when they were well away from Chase’s erstwhile coach.

“What?” Asked Chase dazedly.

“Coach Alphona? You didn’t hear him coming earlier?”

She needed to clear this up, she didn’t want to rape Chase’s mouth with her own. It was a survival necessity.

 _Sure …_ said the voice in her head, rolling her metaphorical eyes.

“You mean, you kissed me because we were about to get caught, that’s all it means to you?” He asked.

Gert was petrified. Chase had kissed her back, but that didn’t have to mean anything. After all, they were teenagers, full of hormones. And she jumped on him so fast, he couldn’t have pushed her away.

And now she was freaking out about it. Because it was Chase and she’d been in love with him for so long, she wasn’t sure she could handle him breaking her heart. Especially now that he was living with her. Things would have been too awkward between them if he knew she was pinning over him desperately.

“Yes, what else would it be?” She lied to save herself.

“Right.” He replied with a closed face.

She gulped. She couldn’t read what he was thinking and she didn’t know if she should be relieved or sad.

“Did you find anything?” She asked to change the subject.

“Yeah, the guys said they didn’t know the name of the girl, but she was the one who organized the party so they could find her info.”

“That’s great! Now we can contact her.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged, still not showing any emotions and Gert swallowed hard.

She really had messed up on this one …


	17. cockroaches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

They meet the next day to make the phone call.

Alex dials the number and puts it on speaker so everyone can hear.

After a few rang, a girl named Livvie picked up. They quickly told her everything, about the party, what almost happened to Karolina and what they were trying to do to help her. Livvie, immediately agreed to help and, when Nico asked, started telling them her story.

“I was hosting a party at my place, but my boyfriend just broke up with me, so I wasn’t feeling in the mood. I didn’t want to make my friends mope around with me so I had a few drinks to try to get into things. But it just…*sigh* wasn’t working so I was trying to find a room to just lie down out of the way. Then this asshole, Brandon I’m guessing, noticed me stumbling around and starting trying to talk me into going upstairs with him. He got his arm around me and started tugging me along up the stairs. Some of my friends must have been keeping an eye on me though ‘cause they were just there pulling his arm off me and getting me back down stairs.”

“Thank God.” Karolina sighed in relief.

“Yeah. But then the party just turned into a huge fight. My friends started beating the shit out of Brandon, but then he called for his buddies.” Livvie continued.

“The others guys from the lacrosse team.” said Chase. “He told them your friends were talking shit about the team.”

“If you say so.” Livvie said. “All I know is that some of my friends got me up to my bedroom and stood guard at the door. The next day, when the memories started to flood back to me, I felt so sick …”

“I understand …” confessed Karolina, her voice heartbreakingly serious.

Nico put her arm around her friend’s shoulder to console her, gently rubbing her arm.

“I wanted him to pay and I considered going to the police. But then I thought about it and realized it was pointless … He’s a white rich boy and I’m a black woman from a poor quarter of L.A. … I think we all know how it was going to end.” Livvie explained sadly.

“White privileged dude …” Gert added disgusted by this injustice.

“Exactly …” replied Livvie. “I’m glad you guys have contact me. I want to help you getting this asshole down. Whatever you need, just say it.”

“We are still thinking about how to make our move, but I thought about asking help to my mom. She’s a lawyer and she’d be happy to kick their asses. If you guys are OK with that, of course?” said Alex.

“That’s a good idea, Alex.” smiled Karolina. “We could probably use some legal advice from her too.”

“I’ll go talk to her about it and we could meet when I have more? With you too Livvie, if you want?” Asked Alex.

“Sure. I can’t wait to meet you guys for real.” Livvie answered.

The conversation turned into more of a “get to know you” kind of talk talk and Gert lost track. Her mind was too far away to focus on something else than Chase now that they had a game plan.

He was acting weird with her since their kiss. He was distant, like he used to be when they weren’t friends anymore. Gert didn’t know what to think of that. Since he’d moved into her house he’d done a lot to be her friend again, and these past days they were closer than ever. And Gert liked it, having him back in her life, just like it used to be when he was her best friend. It felt really great. But now it was all gone because of a stupid kiss.

Gert sighed. She wished she hadn’t kissed him in the first place. Even if the kiss itself was really nice, probably because it was with Chase, the guy she’s been crushing on for so long. Plus, she hadn’t a lot of kissing experience to compete with. Except for Chase, Gert had only kissed two other people in her life.

Her first boyfriend, Isaac. They met at a summer camp when she was 13. He was her first kiss and it was terrible. But the boy was also very cute. He wrote her little poems every day and the kissing part got better with time and practice. Plus, he made her forgot about Chase for an entire summer and it was nice to stop pinning after her best friend who would never love her back. Even if it didn’t last. As soon as the camp was over, she and Isaac went back home and the 500 miles separating them were too much to continue a summer romance. Gert did enjoy talking about Isaac in front of her friends though. Chase always grunted at the mention of the boy and Gert liked to think he was jealous. Jeez, she was so dumb.

There was also Olivia, her first girlfriend. They met the summer after Amy left. Gert was cleaning the beaches of California with an association to change her mind. Their merry band had just fallen apart and Gert needed a distraction, needed to think about something other than the pain she felt when she lost all her friends. When she lost Chase… Olivia was nice and Gert and her did more than kissing, but it didn’t last more than a few months. Gert couldn’t put her heart into the relationship and Olivia couldn’t help but notice. So they cut things off before one of them got hurt.

“Are you guys going to the Pride event tonight?” Karolina asked, bringing Gert out of her memories. Alex had hung up the phone at some point and the others were all picking up their bags and things.

That’s right, there was a big Pride charity thing this Friday night. All the parents were going to raise money for an association and, of course, the whole thing turned into a red-carpet event. The parents were putting on a great spread, renting limos for their guests and, of course, buying their kids the most incredible outfits if they chose to go.

Gert’s parents already told her they would like her to be there, but they weren’t forcing her. They knew how much Gert hated that kind of event. She’d skipped them the past years because it was pointless for her to go if her friends weren’t there. Or worse, if her friends were here and just ignored her because they weren’t friends anymore.

“Yeah, my parents are forcing me to go.” sighed Nico.

Gert remembered the Minoru’s always wanted to show a good image in front of the press, especially since Amy left. It was important to them to the world they were still a united and happy family. And they were good at pretending to be one…

“If you guys are going, I’m coming too.” piped up Molly.

“I guess my parents should be happy about me coming to one of these for once.” added Alex.

“Well, mine won’t be there, but my Dad already ordered me to go over the phone. He wants me to represent the Stein family or somesuch shit.” explained Chase.

Gert tried to find Chase’s eyes, to show him some support, but he was keeping his gaze on everyone in the room who wasn’t her.

“Cool, then we’re all are going.” concluded Gert.

If her friends were going, she had no reason to stay home this time. Plus, she could take advantage of it to spend some time with Chase and try to fix the damage she’d caused.

“Nico, I could pick you up if you wanted to go together?” Alex proposed, oblivious to Karolina’s sad puppy eyes.

Gert noticed though. It only confirmed Gert suspicions she’d had about Karolina having feelings tor Nico. Gert felt for her. She knew exactly how it felt to watch the person you like flirting with somebody else in front of you. Speaking of the devil … Before Nico could answer to Alex, Chase made the same type of offer, just to a different person.

“Karolina, I go practically right past your house…” He let his sentence hang, waiting for the blonde girl’s answer.

He was such a lying bitch, though! Their house was closer seeing as he was literally living with Gert. Gert bit her lips and tried to not show how mad and disappointed she was right now. And to be honest, seeing the look on Karolina’s face, the girl wasn’t thrill by Chase’s idea either. She was probably just too polite to refuse.

Luckily, Molly came to the rescue.

“Some of us are too young to date.” the young girl said, pouting furiously.

“Dating is so heteronormative.” Added Gert automatically. “And we cannot have the carbon footprint of a fleet of limos, guys. One limo, five stops.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico had the idea for all the girls to meet at Karolina’s house to get ready together. Gert agreed to stop at Molly house to drive the two of them to the Dean’s house. She was happy to spend time with her friends; it would help her forget about the fact that Chase was so distant with her …

When they stepped into Karolina’s room, Gert had the distinct feeling she should have waited another minute or so. Karolina and Nico were sitting on the bench at the end of Karolina’s end, right next to each other, and leaning kinda close. And Gert felt sure she and Molly had interrupted something at the disappointed look that spread across the blonde girl’s face.

“Hi.” said Gert lamely, feeling guilty at interrupting what might have been Karolina making her move.

“Hi! I didn’t know you guys were coming.” replied Karolina, her voice strained.

“Nico invited us.” added Molly, moving past Gert and not seeming to pick up any subtext.

“Support your local girl gang, right?” joked Nico, bumping her shoulder against Karolina.

“Right…” said Karolina, still clearly disappointed that her face to face with Nico turned into a girls meeting.

The girls got themselves dressed for the event. Nico and Karolina were already almost ready. The blonde girl was beautiful as always, in a pastel purple long dress, hair pined in a pretty and complex bun on her head, making her look like a princess. Nico was wearing a black goth style dress that was perfect for her. Her hair was tied in a weird but gorgeous way that Gert was convinced only Nico could possibly pull off.

Molly opted for a green and white dress, and some pink velvet sandals that were flat. She also straightened her usually wild, curly hair and piled it up into a ponytail. Gert put on her own long black dress with flowers all over it and some big black high heels. She also took off her glasses and pulled her bangs to the sides, tying it with a silver baroque style hair clip.

When the limo arrived, Alex got out of it to greet the girls, picking Nico quickly on the lips. Gert noticed Karolina looking away at the sight, but also took in Nico’s embarrassed face, like she wasn’t comfortable with the gesture. Gert frowned. She knew Nico has some doubts about her and Alex being a couple and it looked like that feeling hadn’t gotten any better.

Gert decided to climb into the limo to distract herself. Her love life was so messy lately, she had no business sticking her nose into other people’s. Not that she could call what happen between Chase and her love, though…

Gert picked the seat on the far side of the limo, Molly sitting next to her. Alex was sitting right across from Gert, Nico by his side and Karolina next to her.

Alex was laughing with Nico, putting an arm on her shoulder and holding her close. Karolina was clearly just as uncomfortable as she had been outside and she grabbed a bottle of champagne from the ice well, pulled the cork free and started to drink her feelings away.

They stopped to pick up Chase back at her house, who looked like an Armani spokesmodel in his suit because of course he did. Gert just tried to not drool. He got inside the car, Alex and Nico moving closer to Molly to make him some room. Chase fussed with Karolina’s dress so he didn’t sit on it and put it on her knee, brushing his fingers briefly across her skin and Gert bit the inside of her cheek. When he finally managed to sit across from the blonde, he put his hand back on his own legs.

Gert noticed him gave herself a quick glance, but it was super-fast and before she could blink his attention was back on Karolina.

They pulled up to the red carpet after only a half hour. There were paparazzi at the entrance and the merry band got past them as fast as they reasonably could. Their parents were already in there, taking pictures and answering questions for the press. The kids decided to take advantage of the fact their parents were busy for now and try to do something actually fun.

“We should go to the R&D building. There’s a Star Wars arcade game in there!” suggested Alex, his eyes shining eyes.

“My mom would be so pissed if she found us there playing games instead of posing for photos … Let’s do it!” Nico smirked. 

There was a guy sitting at the reception desk, guarding the one way into the room they were trying to get to which they probably weren’t allowed in. They showed him their ID’s anyway and when he saw they were the children of the Pride founders, he let them played.

Alex took the first turn, trying to break the high score, Nico and Molly next to him, cheering him on. Karolina and Chase were sitting in a corner of the room and Gert couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could imagine the flirty lines Chase was serving her. The same ones he’d been using on Karolina since they hit puberty and he noticed how pretty she was.

Gert got sick of the sight and looked around the room to find something to do that didn’t make her want to puke. Her eyes stopped on the security guy. He was reading a book, _“The Metamorphosis”_ by Franz Kafka. Gert approached to him, surprise.

“Cockroaches, right?” she said.

He turned to her, a little lost.

“No other creature could better convey the lows of human existence. Kafka nailed it.” she added, now leaning her elbows on the reception counter and pointing to the book.

“Agreed, yeah. It’s for a class called The Dehumanization of the Proletariat.” he explained.

“I have always been fascinated by the way the Industrial Revolution contorted the human spirit.”

The guy chuckled and they started to chat a little. She learned that his name was Earl and he was a UCLA student, working part time to pay back his tuition fees. He was nice to talk to. He also shared some of her opinions, and understood every word she was saying. She got so caught up in the discussion, she jumped of surprise when Karolina tumbled next to her.

“You guys having fun?” she asked with a sloppy smirk.

Gert took in her friend’s state of obvious drunkenness with some alarm and remembered the girl had drunk an entire bottle of champagne by herself in the limo. Karolina wasn’t really the type of person who drank a lot, and she was clearly not herself anymore.

“Uh … Yeah.” replied Gert after a few seconds. “Are you alright?” she asked, putting a hand on the blonde’s back to keep her from falling down.

The blonde started to laugh uproariously which, thankfully, drew the other’s attention to the problem. Gert saw Chase coming up on the other side of their friend and checking on her.

“Maybe we should get you home …” he said gently, taking her hands.

“Good idea Chase!” Karolina exclaimed, still too loud, pulling her hands free and lacing them behind his neck. “Let’s go to my house. Just you and me …” she trailed off in what under any other circumstances would probably have been a suggestive tease.

“Um…” he frowned, unsure what to do with that.

Before he could say anything else, Karolina put her mouth on him, kissing him messily.

It was like watching a nightmare right in front of her. Gert couldn’t see or hear anything else in the room. Her body was freezing, her eyes couldn’t turn away from the scene in front of her, only torturing herself even more.

Karolina was clearly drunk, but it still hurt like a bitch.

And even more when he kissed her back.

And all she could feel was this immense pain in her chest …


	18. tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

Gert had been staring at the living-room ceiling for at least the last hour. She had tried literally everything to entertain herself, to think about something else, but it was pointless. Every time, her mind was drifting back at what happened last night.

Chase and Karolina had kissed.

She couldn’t believe she’d had to witness that. When they were younger Gert often had to see Chase flirting with Karolina, but being right next to them for their first kiss was horrible. It was like her worst nightmare coming true and Gert couldn’t think about something else but Karolina putting her lips on him and Chase kissing her back.

Gert snorted at herself.

When she kissed him and he kissed her back she’d had a tiny hope that maybe he felt the same about her. Damn, she was so stupid. Apparently, Chase just loved kissing whoever was willing. Didn’t matter if it was her or Karolina.

He probably enjoyed Karolina’s kiss more though.

Last night, after the “incident”, Chase hadn’t even looked at her. He said he was taking Karolina home because she clearly needed to lie down, and they were gone before anyone could manage to say anything. The room was silent after the kiss and Gert could feel everyone’s eyes on her, watching for her reaction. Even Earl seemed to understand all the drama that had just happened.

Molly had immediately come to check on her, hugging her in a comforting way. Alex had stop playing his game, the “Game Over” noise blaring a second later but he didn’t seem to care. And Nico was completely frozen, just like Gert.

When Gert was finally able to feel her arms and legs again she said she was going home, declining her friends’ offers of a ride. She didn’t need to see more pity in their eyes, she had enough for the rest of her life.

Once home she cried herself to sleep then woke up and laid in her bed feeling miserable. She did that until around noon and decided it was time for her to get up, change and eat something because she couldn’t stay in her bed for the rest of her days. Even if she really, _really_ wanted to.

The house was empty thankfully. Her parents had stayed out debriefing about last nights’ event – the fund raiser, not Karolina and Chase’s kiss – with the rest of Pride. They’d texted her saying they’ll probably be gone all day.

Chase hadn’t come home either. He didn’t send a text, but she was sure he was cuddled up with his new girlfriend…

She’d prepared herself a lunch (or late breakfast), she cleaned the kitchen (probably more than it needed) then the rest of the house just to keep herself occupied. But after a while stress cleaning just wasn’t helping anymore. So she tried to read, but stopped after realizing she’d been reading the same line for the last ten minutes.

So now, here she was…lying on the couch…staring at the ceiling…wondering if she should try to turn the TV on or just go back to sleep.

That was when the doorbell rang.

Gert got up and went to answer, expecting a door-to-door sales rep or maybe Molly, Nico or Alex coming to check on her. Or maybe her parents who would have forget their keys for the third time of the month. Whatever, she’d welcome the distraction at this point.

She was expecting it to be anybody but Karolina Dean.

At first she wanted to close the door to her face, but when she saw Karolina’s face she stopped dead.

The blonde girl looked like she’d just woken up from a worst night than Gert, which was really saying something. There were tear tracks in her makeup, which she clearly hadn’t washed off since last night, she was looked paler than usual and her eyes looked close to terrified.

“H-hi. Can I talk to you?” she asked nervously. She was twisting her fingers together like she was trying to unscrew them at the joints.

She didn’t replay, just got out of the way and held open the door for the blonde to come inside.

Gert wanted to be mad at Karolina for kissing Chase. Over the past few years, the blonde girl kept teasing Gert about liking Chase, even asking if she was stalking him just to piss her off one day. Even if Gert always denied it Karolina knew about her feeling for him. And she still kissed him right in front of her.

Like, Gert could have understood it if Karolina wanted to be with him too, it would have been hard and hurtful, but she would have gotten it. But Karolina could have talked to her about it first, and not shoved her tongue down Chase’s throat when Gert was only a few meters away.

“Look, about last night …” started the blonde girl carefully.

“Congrats.” Gert cut her off bitterly. “You and Chase make a very pretty couple.”

“We are not together.” Karolina said, vehemently.

“Sure.” snorted Gert.

“Gert…” Karolina voice broke. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done what I did last night, a-and …”

She couldn’t finish her sentence. She started to cry and her breathing started hitching and shaking.

Gert couldn’t keep her anger up in the face of Karolina breaking down like that. She’d had enough experience with anxiety to know what those kinds of sobs felt like. She pulled Karolina inside the house, not wanting her friend(?) to have to fall apart where anyone could see. They went to the living-room, sitting on the sofa.

“Hey, breathe OK? Just breathe.” she instructed, taking a deep, slow, exaggerated breath in and out. “See… Deep breaths… Just like that…”

The blonde girl followed along, both of them breathing deep together and, after a few minutes, her breaths lost most of the shake to it, only interrupt by a few hiccups from time to time.

“Thank you.” she managed to say, whipping the tears off her face and smearing her makeup even more. “God, I feel even more horrible for last night… You’re such a good friend Gert and I’m just awful…”

Gert saw she was on the verge of breaking down again, so she rubbed her back gently.

“It’s okay…” started Gert.

“It’s not” Karolina cut her off, new tears rolling down her cheeks. “I know I messed up. You have all the reasons to hate me…”

“I don’t hate you.” Gert said, rolling her eyes.

“But you like Chase and I kissed him.” the blonde girl insisted.

Gert bit her lip. It was pointless to lie about her feeling for Chase to Karolina anymore. It was pretty clear knew and she was hurting about what happened last night.

“Yeah, I like him…” that was harder to get out than it should have been. “But you can kiss whoever you want, and so can he. I can’t tell you what to do, especially about that.”

Karolina wiped some more tears from her cheeks. “You still have every right to be mad at me for kissing him. Trust me, I know how much it hurt. I shouldn’t have...”

Gert frowned, a little lost now.

“How much what hurt?” she asked.

Karolina sighed, closing her eyes tight. She seemed to be psyching her up to say something. Gert had no idea what, but she let her all the time she needed.

“To watch the person you’re in love with kiss someone else. Right in front of you.”

“The person you’re love with?” Gert repeated, completely lost. “Did Chase hook up with anybody else last night? Cause I don’t remember seeing him with anyone but you.” Her voice became harsher on the end of her sentence. She couldn’t help it.

“I don’t love Chase.” Karolina exclaimed, widening her eyes.

“Then, who …” Gert stopped, all the dots connecting in her head. “It’s Nico, isn’t it?”

Karolina nodded, fixing her eyes an imaginary point in front of her and drawing her knees up to her chest.

“I just … It’s too much, you know? I already have so much in my mind without this. Between my mom and the church, always on my back, asking me to be the perfect girl. Brandon and Lucas and what they almost did to me. And now this…”

“Is this why you drank so much last night?”

The blonde girl nodded, biting her lip guiltily.

“I know it doesn’t excuse what I did, but… I just wanted all to go away.” She ended whispered.

Gert sensed that Karolina was on the verge on crying again, and she pulled her friend into a comforting hug.

How ironical was this. A few seconds ago, Gert had wanted Karolina to be literally anywhere else and now she was consoling her… But she couldn’t help it. Even after everything, Karolina was her friend and she was in real pain.

“It’s OK, Kar’.” She said gently, rubbing her friend back gently. “I understand. Just, next time you’re feeling so bad, talk to me instead of drinking yourself half unconscious, OK? I’m your friend. I’m here for you.”

“Thanks Gert,” Karolina said once her emotions were back under control. “You’re the best. I’m glad I have you as my friend.”

Gert chuckled and they kept hugging a little more. When they pulled apart, Gert saw all the worries her friend was struggling with.

“Do you wanna talk about it now?” Gert asked softly.

Karolina wiped the few tears that were keep running from her eyes and snorted noisily.

“I wouldn’t know where to start… A while I started asking myself questions about who I really like, but Nico… She’s my best friend and she’s already dating someone. A guy moreover. I know she’ll never feel the same about me…”

Gert smiled sadly, knowing exactly the feeling of pinning desperately over your best friend. Knowing he would never feel the same…

“Well, I can’t tell you what Nico’s feelings are, but I can help you with all the questions that are going through your head because you like girls. Trust me, I know it could be confusing.”

“You do?” Karolina asked surprised.

Gert nodded and started telling her about what happened between her and Olivia. She explained to her friend that she had questions too back then and that it was completely OK.

Karolina just listened with her wrapped.

“So, you like girls?” the blonde asked hesitantly when she finished her story.

“Yes, I do.” Gert’s mind immediately drifted to Chase. “And I also like boys, obviously.”

“I think I only like girls.” Karolina said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Karolina nodded. “Well, after last night I’m sure I don’t like boys. I literally puked right after that kiss. Might have been because of the alcohol, though...” she grimaced at the memory.

Gert snorted.

“Yeah, don’t say that to Chase. You’ll probably destroy his poor masculine ego.” she didn’t want to sound so mean, but just mentioning his name was making her angry.

“You know that’s not fair, right?” Karolina nudged her gently.

“Yeah, that asshole’s too smart to be offended because a girl realized she is a lesbian after kissing him.” She grumbled.

There was an awkward silence and Gert could sense Karolina was building herself to say something else. So she looked at her friend one eyebrow quirked, silently asking her to spill it.

“He told me you kissed him too, you know?” Karolina confessed.

“Yeah?” The blonde girl nodded. “Well, he’ll be relieved to hear I didn’t puke after.” Gert shrugged, trying to joke about it to hide her feelings.

It seemed to work. Karolina giggled.

“Oh, I know that. He told me it was the best kiss of his life, so I figured it couldn’t have been as horrible last night.”

Gert’s heart skipped a beat at her friend’s words.

“He told you what?” she asked, feeling her chest warming up when Karolina nodded in agreement, but immediately getting down from cloud nine. “It doesn’t matter. He kissed you back last night because he liked you…” She started to ramble.

“First,” Karolina cut her off, some of her usual strength back in her voice. “He immediately regretted kissing me back. He apologized like a hundred time last night. Said over and over that he was an ass because I clearly wasn’t in a state to give consent. I told him I was the one who kissed him in the first place, so we were fine. But he kept going on about non-consensual kissing and he shouldn’t have done it. I think he’s spent too much with you …” she nudged Gert playfully.

Gert giggled a little and felt her heart warming up. So, he did listen to her when she was rambling the night they slept together – in an absolutely friendly and not sexual way. She knew she mention consent at some point in her feminist speech, but she’d said so many things that night, she was certain Chase had lost tracks at some point.

“Second…” continued Karolina. “He kissed me back because he was heartbroken, Gert.”

“What?! What are you talking about?” She frowned.

“You kissed him and it was one of the best moments of his life. And you said it meant nothing. And the day right after that you started flirting with the security guy right in front of Chase.”

“I wasn’t flirting with Earl!” Gert defended herself.

“You were just having an awesome conversation with a cute guy on a subject that you’re really passionate about.” Karolina spelled out. “From the outside, it looked like the two of you were in your own bubble. I can’t blame Chase for getting jealous over it.”

“He was jealous?” repeated Gert, astonished.

“Absolutely. How could you miss that? I was drunk off my ass and even I could see it.” replied Karolina. “His jaw was so clenched; I was afraid he was gonna break it.”

Gert bit her lips. She started to talk with Earl last night, to distract herself. Because she couldn’t stand to see Chase talking with Karolina. Because she thought he was flirting with her. Because she was jealous …

“He really likes you Gert.” Karolina said, breaking into Gert’s thoughts.

“Are you sure?” She whispered, still not really believing it.

“Yes.” Karolina replied straightly. “He told me that last week, when I told him I was confused about my feelings for Nico.”

“The night he came to dinner at your house?” Gert asked, realizing that Chase stayed so long at the Dean’s that night because Karolina was coming out to him.

Karolina nodded and Gert felt even more like shit for being such a bitch to him the next day. Actually, she was feeling like shit for being such a bitch to him in general. She was so stupid. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t realized Chase was going through something too.

“Why didn’t he say anything?” Gert exclaimed. That could have saved them so much time and drama.

“Why didn’t _you_ say anything?” Karolina replied gently.

Because I was terrified it wasn’t mutual, because I was certain he wasn’t feeling the same way, because… Yeah, OK. Karolina had a point.

“God, we are so stupid …” Gert said sadly.

“No, you’re just … in love. It can make us pretty stupid sometimes.” Karolina joked to cheer her up. “And now that you know, you can go talk to him and after a beautiful love declaration, you’ll kiss senseless and live happy ever after.”

Gert glared at her.

“You need to stop watching Disney fairy tales, Kar’.” She replied.

“Probably.” The blonde shrugged. “But I was serious, you should go talk to him.”

Gert started to stress out about it.

“It’s not easy …”

“I know, but if neither one of you two makes the first move, you’ll still be tip toing around each other in twenty years …”

Gert chuckled a little at the thought and realized her friend was right. Maybe it was time for her to be the independent woman she was always promoting and finally talk to Chase. Be honest with him. What did she have to lose? If Karolina told her he likes her, it must be true. She wouldn’t lie about that.

“I’ll talk to him.” She stated, stimulated by this sudden momentum of boldness.

“You will?” Said Karolina with a wide smile.

She nodded. But first, she needed to find him.

“Do you know where he is?” She asked to Karolina. “I haven’t seen him today. I thought he was with you but clearly he’s not.”

“Uh … No. He did come to my house this morning to check on me and so we could talk, but he left before noon.” she replied.

Gert started to think about where Chase could have gone. If he wasn’t here or at Karolina’s, that didn’t leave a lot of options. If he had gone to Nico’s or Molly’s or Alex’, she was pretty sure she would have gotten a text from them. And Chase told her he didn’t have real friends except for their merry band.

Her face lit up when she realized there was one house he could have gone to where no one could have told her where he was. 

His own house …


	19. telescope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

Gert parked her car in the Stein’s driveway, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. The closer she got to seeing Chase, to actually talking to him, the harder the silly thing seemed to beet.

It was already dark outside so she comforted herself that no one could see how pale she must be right now. She walked to the door, her legs like jelly, but somehow she managed to get to the front door without falling over. She rang, waiting for an answer, every second more stressful than the last.

But nobody answered.

She tried again, and then again. After the fourth unsuccessful try, she groaned. She’d been so sure Chase would be here. Could she have been wrong?

Then she remembered, there was a place in the Stein house where Chase could have been and not heard the doorbell.

She speed-walked around to the garden gate, lifting the latch from outside like Chase showed her back in eighth grade. She silently prayed that the numbers were still the same as back then as she punched in the burglar alarm code, otherwise the only face to face she’d have tonight will be with the LAPD. She sighed of relief when she heard no blaring siren, and took the outdoor stairs that lead up to the roof.

Chase was there with his telescope, looking up at the sky through it so he didn’t see her. He did hear her though when she tripped on the last step, too focused on what she was going to say, and almost fall on her face for her trouble.

“Shit!” she cursed.

“Gert?!” he exclaimed, turning at her shout and rushing to her, leaving the telescope. “Are you OK?”

“Ye-yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” she answered as he took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

He was still holding her hand and Gert pulled away from him abruptly. She couldn’t confess what she was supposed to if he was holding her hand like that, it was too much for her. Chase looked hurt by her sudden motion, making that kicked puppy face of his that made her heart feel like it was being squeezed. 

_Congrats Gert!_ _Great way to show him you like him!_

“What are you doing here?” he asked, crossing his arms on his chest.

“Uh … I …” she cleared her throat. “I was looking for you.”

It wasn’t a lie; she was looking for him. To tell him she’d been in love with him since they were kids, but that part was really hard to say.

“You were?” he frowned.

“Uh, yeah. I just…” Gert took a breath, trying to steady her voice “Wanted to talk to you.”

“Really? About what?” he asked surprised.

“Uh … A-about …” she stammered. “I talked to Karolina earlier…”

She was already watching his face so she got to watch every second of his reaction. He didn’t look so surprised, so she thought maybe Karolina mentioned she was going to see her when she left him this morning. But Gert didn’t know if she said that she was going to tell her _everything_.

“Yeah?” he asked.

She nodded.

“We had…a lot to talk about.” she continued. “Well, Karolina did most of the talking…”

Chase was still staring at her silently and it was killing her that she couldn’t read his mind.

“She had a lot to say… About last night…” Chase stiffed, but she wanted to keep going. “And what she was going through lately with her feelings for Nico and…” she rambled.

“She told you about Nico?” he interrupted before she could get to the part that she wanted.

“Yes. And she also told me that you knew.” She felt the need to explain. Gert did not out people. _Ever_.

“Yeah, she asked me to not tell anyone yet, so…” he ran his fingers through his hair.

“And you were right to keep it to yourself.” she said firmly. “It can be really confusing and some of us need time before telling anyone.”

She saw sadness clouded Chase’s features and she wondered what was going on with him, until he spoke again.

“Us? So, you like girls too?” he asked hesitantly.

Gert bit the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from giggling. Was it disappointment that she saw on Chase’s face?

“Yes, I do.” she replied, still fighting a grin, and even in the darkness she could saw him pale a little. “And I also like boys…” she added, deciding to let him off the hook.

It looked like Chase had holding his breath, because when she finished her sentence she saw his shoulders sag in relief.

“That’s great!” he exclaimed, relieved.

She couldn’t stop the cocky smile that appeared on her lips and Chase must have noticed it because he rushed to justify himself.

“I mean, it’s cool for you… That you know who you like…” he rambled, blushing a little.

Gert decided to take this opportunity to finally get this conversation to where she’d wanted it to go.

“What about you? Do you know _who_ you like?” She asked, emphasizing the “who” ever so slightly.

“Uh … Girls.” he frowned, not understanding where she was going or what she meant.

Gert could have face-palmed he was so dense. Usually she liked how clueless he could be sometimes, but right now it so wasn’t helping.

“Yeah, but is there is a specific one? A girl that you like?” she pushed.

Her heart was beating harder than ever now and she knew she was blushing. Chase stiffened and looked like he was struggling with himself about if he should tell her the truth or not.

“Yes.” he finally replied, looking straight at her.

Gert felt her heart pounding in her chest and for one second, she wondered if this was it.

“D-do you wanna talk about it?” she stammered.

“Not really… It’s not important.” he sighed.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because…she doesn’t like me that way.” he said, his face turning sad.

“Are you sure about that?” she asked, loud as a whisper.

“Yes.” he snorted. “She’s made it pretty clear how she feels.”

Gert felt her heart pitch. She had really mess up on this one…

“Maybe not…” she started, staring him in the eyes the same way he did earlier. “Maybe you’re wrong and she likes you too.”

Chase was looking at her too, unsure of if she was implying what he thought she was, but also she could see something in his eyes. Was it… Hope?

“How can I think that after…?” he trailed off in a broken voice.

She sighed and closed her eyes. It was her fault after all. She was the one who pushed him away this time, so now it was more than reasonable for him to think she didn’t like him. She opened her eyes again, and decided it was time to just tell him why she acted so stupid.

“Maybe she was just too scared and decided to push you away. Because…” she took a deep breath. “Because she’d liked you for so long… And thought that you’d never want her that way. That, you wouldn’t want to be with a girl like her.”

“A girl like her?” he asked, frowning.

“You know… Not popular or good looking.”

“Well, I think she’s pretty hot.” he replied and her heart skipped a beat. “Yeah, she’s not popular, but who cares about that? She’s so strong, and brilliant and…” he smiled. “She’s the most incredible person I’ve ever met.”

Gert had this warm feeling spreading through her chest and it only increased when she saw how intently Chase was looking at her.

“D-did you ever tell her? What you think of her?” she stammered.

“No.” he conceded. “She thinks I’m an idiot, why would she want to hear what I think of her?” he shrugged sadly.

“She doesn’t think that you’re an idiot.” she moved closer to him. “She may have said so, often and loudly, but it was a defense mechanism. ‘Cause she felt ignored and she was just afraid that you’d never see her the way she saw you.”

“I always saw her.” he whispered, now only a few inches away.

“Well, you should definitely tell her. And maybe this time, she won’t chicken out when you kiss her.”

“Do you think…” he exhaled next to her lips. “Do you think she’d want to try that kiss again?”

“Yes” she said softly.

The next second his lips were on hers and he was kissing her like the world was about to end.

And she kissed him back.

One of his hand on her cheek, the other in her hair, he pressed her closer to him. She wriggled happily, clinging to his back like she was afraid he was going to disappear. Except, he didn’t. He was still there, against her, feeling so strong and warm and good.

And she never wanted it to end.

Chase must have been thinking the same because suddenly, she felt his tongue against her lips. She opened her mouth and met his tongue with her own, making him grunt. They were kissing hungrily, putting years of frustration in this kiss. When they had to split for air, they were back on the other in seconds. It continued for a while, until they really couldn’t breathe anymore and had to stop.

They stayed close through, forehead against forehead, they opened their eyes to look at one other and panted around giggles.

“T-this girl that we’re talking about…” said Chase with a husky voice. “It is you, right? I mean, for me it was you I was talking about all along, but for you…” he added hesitantly.

“Yes. It’s me.” she cut him off and was reward by a giant grin on his face.

“So… You’re not gonna push me away this time?” he asked, the worry in his eyes only barely hidden.

“No…” she whispered. “And not this time either…” she teased before putting her lips on him again.

He smiled and kissed her back tenderly. It was softer than any kiss they shared before, probably because they had already put all their frustration in the first one. Now they knew they both wanted this and they weren’t afraid of letting go or ruining the moment.

When they stopped they looked at each other and chuckled happily. Her arms had ended up wrapped around his waist and was Chase hugging her back. He bit his lip, passing one of his hand across her forehead to brush a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“I meant it, you know?” he said. “I _really_ like you Gert.”

Gert felt her heart racing. Before, when Chase told her all those beautiful things, she was already feeling the thrill, but now she was electrified. Because they weren’t dancing around the it or talking about some “girl”. Now he was talking about _her_.

“I really like you, too.” she said.

He grinned and cup her jaw to bring her face closer, kissing her again. It was quick, but gentle, and when he pulled out of her arms, she giggled like a little girl. She couldn’t recognize herself. Gert, the strong and independent woman was acting like a rom-com cliché right now. And she wasn’t even mad at herself for it. Not when Chase was glued to her, warming her in the coldness of the night, and looking at her with bright eyes.

It continued until they were back at the Yorkes, their little game of lovesick teenagers. They pouted when they had to split apart to drive their respective cars home. They smiled and held hands when they saw the other one again in front of the house, after only a few minutes apart. They drifted to each other again and kissed like they’d never have enough. It was silly, but they’d wasted so much time already, they had a lot to make up for.

They only came back to reality when they heard Stacey and Dale chatting in the kitchen, coming to meet them in the hall. Gert remembered the last time her parents thought she was dating with Chase…

Fuck, she didn’t want to have another conversation about the size of Chase’s dick with her Mom.

She looked at Chase and saw in his eyes that he was thinking the same. So, they split apart abruptly, already missing the others’ warmness. She tried to look less like she just spent the last hour kissing Chase senseless, straightening her t-shirt and combing her hair with her fingers – he spent so much time playing with it earlier, she must be such a mess right now.

Chase was wiping away the traces of her lip gloss from his own lips, when her parents entered the room.

“Hey kiddos!” Dale greeted them. “Dinner’s ready. You coming?”

“Y-yep!” replied Gert. “That sound super, thanks so much!”

She mentally slapped herself for that. She was terrible at improvisation. She saw from the corner of her eyes, Chase biting his lip to hold back a laugh. Her parents frowned a little, but didn’t question it, moving back to the kitchen.

Chase and her followed them, and she felt him brushing his hand behind her back briefly, taking it away before her parents were next to them again.

Later Gert could not have remembered what they’d eaten. Dinner was mostly a blur of hidden eyes contacts and “accidental” brush of hands that were not really discreet, but neither Stacey or Dale seemed to realize what was going on.

After clearing the table, Chase and her said goodnight to her parents and went to their rooms on the second floor. They were, of course, barely to the top of the stairs before they pulled together again, kissing like they’d been apart for months rather than minutes. It was ridiculous and when they pulled apart, they both laughed at the silliness of the situation.

“So…” started Chase, biting his lip and whispering. “I guess we stay discreet in front of your parents?”

“Unless you want to have another discussion about protection with my mom?” she teased.

“No thanks, I’m good.” he replied immediately.

She giggled, seeing how embarrassed Chase still was at the memory.

“What about in front of everyone else?” he asked hesitantly. “Do we have to stay discreet too?”

She started to stress a little. They hadn’t talked about it yet. Were they a couple now? They kissed and said they liked each other, but they didn’t put a label on what they were. Gert always hated labels, but she’d like to have one for Chase and her now.

“Do you want us to be?” she whispered, anxious.

“Not really.” he confessed, staring in her eyes. “Do you?”

“No, I really don’t” she replied. “Does that mean that you and me… Are a thing right now?” she added falteringly.

“Only if you want us to be.” he said sincerely.

She chuckled and pecked him on the lips. He deepened the kiss a little, putting his hand in her hair again.

“That mean “yes”, right?” he asked, pulling away of only a few inches from her month.

“Yes.” She giggled.

He grinned and put his lips on her again.

Wow, she never wanted to stop kissing him…


	20. coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

Gert was sitting in Chase’s car, holding his hand as he drove them to Timely to meet the band and also Livvie. She had messaged Alex last night, proposing they all get coffee sometime so she could meet everyone and they all agreed that sooner was better. Gert was impatient to finally meet the girl in person.

Chase parked in front of Timely and she got out of the car, waiting for him to get out so they could walk together. He stepped in close to her, brushing her hand softly with his own. She bit her lip, knowing what he was hesitating to do and decided to end his internal struggle, tangling her fingers with his. Chase grinned hugely, like he just had won the lottery. And she laughed, shaking her head at how silly his reaction was, but she thought it was cute.

That morning they kept up their little game of stolen kisses, hiding themselves around Stacey and Dale. And as fun and thrilling as it was to play hidden lovers, it was also nice to be able to touch her boyfriend without worrying about being seen.

She knew it wouldn’t be that bad if they knew about the two of them. But she also knew that Stacey and Dale were so embarrassing sometimes. If she could save herself and Chase from some awkward conversation with her parents for now, she was happy with it. Plus, Stacey might have said she wouldn’t mind Chase and Gert being together while living under the same roof, but Dale might not agree with her for once. To Dale, Gert will always be his baby girl, no matter what, and she knew her dad would freak out knowing the aforementioned baby girl could have sex anytime with her boyfriend.

Not that she and Chase had done anything … _Yet._

Gert grinned to herself. After all, it hadn’t even been 24 hours since they’d officially got together. Gert pulled her mind out of the gutter, deciding it was better to not think about having sex with her boyfriend when she was about to see her friends. She focused on the coffee shop door instead as Chase pushed it open.

The rest of their merry band was already inside, waiting for the two of them and Livvie. They were sitting at a big table in a quiet little corner. Gert frowned when she saw Nico and Alex sitting as far away as possible from each other. Molly and Karolina were sitting between them and seemed to be trying to break the awkward and palpable tension in the air. However, when Molly saw the new couple approaching, she zeroed in on their tangled fingers for a few seconds before jumping from her seat and whooping loudly.

“Oh my God! Are you two _finally_ together?!” She absolutely beamed at Gert, excitement writ large across her face.

The still seated members of their band snapped their gazes to them, and Gert felt her cheeks turning pink. Karolina grinned and winked at them teasingly while Nico and Alex were frowning, a little lost. She looked at Chase and he was looking back with one eyebrow quirked, asking her silently if she had changed her mind about this since yesterday.

“Yes, we are.” she replied, keeping her eyes on him and squeezing his hand gently.

Chase smiled widely at her and she couldn’t stop her mouth for doing the same.

“OK, not that I’m not happy for you guys, but … I’m a little lost here.” Nico said, turning their attention to her. “I thought you were with Karolina.” she added bitterly, pointing Chase with an accusing finger.

Gert frowned, a little surprised at Nico’s almost angry reaction. She saw Karolina smug smile falter and felt Chase stiffen next to her. She brushed the back of his hand with her thumb to show him it was fine. She and Chase hadn’t talked about it yet, but she knew from Karolina that the kiss meant nothing to the both of them. She wasn’t going to be jealous anymore.

He relaxed a little under her little caress and she felt him squeezing her hand back.

“No, I’m not with Karolina.” he said. “What happened Friday night was …” He was looking for words.

“A drunken mistake?” tried Karolina. “At least, it was for me.” she added less loudly.

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t drunk but I think we can definitely agree about it being a mistake.” Chase nodded, looking at Karolina apologetically.

The blonde girl gave him a reassuring smile and waved her hand airily, making it clear they were both on the same page.

“So … Everything is fine? Between the three of you?” asked Molly. “Because I don’t want to see a remake of what happen in my Abuela’s telenovelas _,_ happening to you guys.” Gert was pretty sure she was only half joking.

“Yep, we’re good.” confirmed Karolina.

Chase turned to face Gert, asking her silently if she was fine. She smiled and nodded to reassure the worried face he was making and he sighed of relief. She giggled a little, amused, and he smirked, getting closer to her. She didn’t back off and let him peck her on the lips tenderly.

“WWOOOOOOOO!” cheered the girls, clapping their hands wildly.

“You guys are morons.” stated Gert.

“We’ve waited for this moment for so long, you can’t blame us for being happy.” Karolina laughed.

Gert rolled her eyes, but chuckled. She decided to pull a loveseat to the front of the table, more than large enough for two people. Chase got the message, as soon as she sat down he was following her in, molding his body into her. His flesh was against her and he let go of her hand to put his arm around her shoulders. She let herself snuggle closer to his warm, if it was possible, putting her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder, giggling when he kissed the top of her head.

Alex, who had stayed strangely silent the whole time, suddenly sighed sadly.

“You’ve got a problem, Wilder?” Chase asked archly.

“No, why would you ask that?” replied Alex, frowning.

“Are you jealous?” Chase asked.

Gert stiffed next to him. What was that about?

“What?! No!” Exclaimed Alex. “Why would you think something like that?”

“Yeah, Chase, why would you think that? Alex and I are just friends and will never be nothing more.” She said. “I mean, no offense, Alex.” she added.

“None taken.” he replied simply, turning his attention back to Chase and waiting for more explications.

“Because…” Chase bit his lips, like he was holding himself from saying something. “I don’t know; you just look like you’re not super happy for us.”

She saw that he was not telling all the truth here and she decided to dig deeper about this latter. She didn’t want to have this conversation in front of everyone, and she’ll wait for when they’ll be just the two of them.

“It wasn’t because …” started Alex, but he stopped, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t want to look like I wasn’t happy for you guys, I really am. It’s just seeing you two as a happy couple remind me … I’m not into one now.”

Nico twitched a little and the rest of the band shared a lost expression.

“Uh … Yeah.” Nico cleared her throat. “We wanted to tell you guys that Alex and I … We’re not together anymore.”

Oh. That explained much.

Gert immediately looked at Karolina, watching her expression and it looked like she hadn’t known about it. The blonde was obviously in shock, but also, there were hints of hope on her face. Gert bit her lips, torn between happiness for Karolina and sympathy for Alex’s obvious heartache. She knew the boy had liked Nico for a long time.

“It’s fine.” Alex broke the ice. “Nico said she wants us to just be friends. And I respect her decision.” He explained. 

Nico gave him an “I’m sorry” smile and he returned the sentiment with a nod.

“At least now I know that I’d better stay friends with all of you.” he said, trying to make light of everything.

Karolina cleared her throat then and the rest of their band turned to her. She was playing with her fingers nervously and Gert had a pretty good idea what was about to happen.

“About that … There’s something I want to tell you guys.” she started.

“Are you into Alex?!” exclaimed Molly, her eyes big as saucers.

“What? No! God, never!” Karolina flinched then grimaced, turning to the boy in question. “Sorry Alex. That was uncalled for and probably hurtful.” she added sheepishly.

“It’s fine.” Alex managed a grin. “I think I can handle getting turned down one more time today.”

Karolina smiled apologetically before turning back to everyone.

“This one’s not on you Alex.” she took a deep breath, before finally spilling the truth. “I … Don’t like boys. I like girls. Romantically.”

A change seemed to come over her then. She sat taller, her shoulders straightening like she’d finally set down a heavy bag. But the girl was still carefully watching her friends, clearly scared of what their reactions could be. Gert mouthed her a “don’t worry” from across the table and Chase smiled at her, silently telling her how happy he was for her.

“Oh, OK. That’s cool.” said Alex. “Plus, now I really know everyone wants to stay just friend with me.” he joked to relax Karolina, making her giggle.

“Well, there’s still me.” replied Molly. “But that’s never happening Alex. With you or anyone else here. You’re all like big brothers and sisters to me. And, I’m happy that you told us Karolina.” she added with a big smile.

She was sitting next to her so Karolina grabbed her into a hug. Gert saw that the blonde felt much better, but she was still waiting for Nico’s reaction. The Asian girl looked a little surprised at the confession, but not in a bad way.

“So …” started Karolina, looking hesitantly at Nico. “You guys are fine with it?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” asked Nico. “You can love whoever you want Karrie, it doesn’t matter. As long as you happy, we all are.”

She grabbed Karolina’s hand with her own, squeezing it gently. They stared into each other eyes a minute, smiling and sharing what was looking like a moment. Until Alex ruined it without even noticing.

“So, anybody else want to turn me down today?” he asked.

“Well, now that you bring it up Wilder, I have to tell you, you and I will never happen either.” laughed Chase. “Sorry man. And sorry for being such a douche to you earlier …” he added sincerely.

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Alex reassured him.

They smiled to each other and Gert was practically sure the band would have gone into a group hug if there hadn’t been a table separating them.

“You know, _this_ kinda does look like a remake of my Abuela’s telenovelas.” Molly joked, making everyone laugh.

They didn’t have time for any more sappiness as a girl with lovely dark skin and some African breads in her braided hair pulled open the coffee shop door.

“Hey everyone!” she greeted them with a smile and a wave.

Livvie turned out to be as beautiful as advertised and Gert couldn’t help but noticed the way Alex started stammered when he introduced himself to her. Well, that boy sure moved on quick … Just kidding, she was happy as long as all her friends were. And Alex knew how to act with her.

Nico must have been thinking the same because she practically pushed Alex to go with Livvie taking her order at the counter, saying he should get a refill of his hot chocolate.

“Do you want anything?” Chase asked Gert when Livvie and Alex were gone, laughing together at the bar. “We didn’t order anything either.”

“Oh, uh … Yeah, your right.” She hadn’t even realized they had nothing to drink before he mentioned it. “It’s OK, I’ll go get …”

“Coffee with milk and two sugars?” he said before she could finish.

“Yeah …” she whispered, astonished. “You know my order?”

“Of course.” he replied with a grin. “Like I said, I always saw you. And I saw that every time we came here, you love to drink a big cup of coffee with milk and two sugars. One is not enough and three is like drinking syrup.”

Gert giggled, remembering when she first started drinking coffee and did experiments see what she liked or didn’t. Chase usually ended up helping her finish her drink when she massacred it with too much sugar and/or milk and it was undrinkable, but she didn’t want to waste it. He knew how much it hurt her heart to throw away food and always helped her without complaining.

Damn, he was so sweet back then.

He was still so sweet right now.

She smiled happily and put her hand behind his head, bringing him closer to kiss softly, feeling him chuckle against her mouth.

“Ugh.” sighed Nico. “I’m starting to wonder if I preferred it when you hated each other. Your lovesick teenager impersonation is disgusting.”

They pulled apart to see Nico faking a grossed-out face and Gert stuck her tongue out at her.

“Don’t be jealous of our cuteness.” Chase laughed, kissing Gert’s temple before getting up to go to the bar.

She followed him, taking advantage of finally being alone with him to ask him the questions she still got for him. They were both waiting for their orders in front of the bar, the waiter was gone to the reserve for milk and there was no one else around, so she decided now was a good time.

“Chase …” she said softly, turning his attention to her. “About what happened earlier with Alex … What was that about?” she asked.

She saw his entire body stiff and she passed her hands in his hair to relax him, showing him she could hear anything.

“It’s just …” He sighed, closing his eyes. “I kinda always thought you’d end up with Alex…” He confessed sheepishly.

“What?!” She exclaimed.

“He’s super smart and he always understand what you’re speaking about.” Chase defended himself. “And I always was a little jealous of him …”

Gert froze for a second. She couldn’t believe that Chase was jealous of Alex all this time. It was stupid! Just … Just like when she was jealous of Karolina … So, Chase was such a dick with Alex all these years because of that? Damn, Chase and her were really two idiots.

“I mean …” he passed a hand in his hair nervously. “I’m not jealous of his chicken legs or his square head …” Gert rolled her eyes, but gestured for him to keep going. “But, yeah I’m jealous of how smart he is. I always thought you’d want to be with a genius like him.” he grumbled.

“First,” she said, grabbing his face so he could look at her in the eyes. “ _You_ are a genius, too.” she saw him smiling softly. “Second, like I said, I’ll never date Alex, he’s just a friend.” she added. “And third …” she got closer to him. “You’re the one I wanna be with, not him.” she whispered next to his lips, blushing a little.

It was still hard for her to spill her guts like that, but when Chase grabbed her lips with his own to kiss her senseless, she stopped worrying about it. They got cut off by the waiter who came back with their orders, looking annoyed at their making out session in the middle of the coffee. They split apart and went to pay for their coffees. Chase tried to pay for her, but she didn’t let him.

This wasn’t a date and even if it was Gert would have wanted to split the bill.

He argued a little and grumbled, but she argued back harder and he yielded. She kissed his pouting expression away and soon, they were back with the others, chatting happily with Livvie, getting to know her better.

At some point, they get to the less funny part. The Brandon and Lucas problem.

“So, I talked with my mom and she agreed to help us.” Alex started. “She has friends in the LAPD, and she said that with their help she’ll be able to do _something_.”

“What do you mean by something?” asked Karolina, visibly feeling stressed by the qualifier.

Nico, who was sitting next to her, grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently to show her some support. The blonde girl immediately relaxed, giving Nico a thankful smile. And Gert couldn’t help but smile too at the scene playing in front of her.

“Well …” Alex started. “Technically it wasn’t rape, only attempts. Two of them, at least as far as we know…” He explained with a grimace. “My mom thinks that since both Brandon and Lucas are minors and super rich, she won’t be able to put them in prison or in juvie…” he confessed.

“What can she do, then?” asked Livvie in a sad tone.

“She thinks she can manage to have them kicked out of Atlas at least, plus make sure there is a mark of all this in their school and police records. It’ll follow them for the rest of their life. If they apply for a job or University they’ll know about it.” Alex replied.

“That’s not all bad, right? I mean, they’ll be kick out of school and everyone will know who they did.” said Karolina after a small silence.

“Yeah.” agreed Livvie. “It could be worse I guess.”

“My mom is just not sure about Lucas. It was more Brandon who was a problem.” Alex said

“Sure. But the asshole was watching the whole thing and helped Brandon get as far as he did. He is as guilty as him.” Chase said.

“Now let’s just pray that they’ll both get at least some of what they deserve.” added Karolina.

They all nodded sadly, not very sure whether they should call this a win or cry …


	21. library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

On Wednesday, Gert was found chatting with Nico and Karolina in a school hallway when a panting and out of breath Alex ran up to them.

“Guys!” he called loudly, putting a hand on his side to clutch a stich and catching his breath. “Mom called… just got… news…”

He panted as he tried to get the message out, before figuring out he’d never be able to make any sense like this and took a few deep breaths.

“The police opened an investigation into Brandon and Lucas, but the principal got a call today to warn the school about it. She knowns about everything and she called Brandon and Lucas in her office about an hour ago. With their parents.”

“That’s a good sign, right?” Karolina asked, painful hope in her voice. “I mean, if their parents are here the principal must be taking it seriously?”

Nico pulled her into a light but comforting one-armed hug and Gert bit her lips to hold back the smirk she wanted to give to the blonde girl. This was too serious to gush over her friends being a cute not-couple.

“Did you hear?” said a voice she could recognize in thousands behind them.

They all turned around to see Chase gently pushing his way through the throng of their fellow students.

“Yeah, Alex just told us.” answered Nico.

“I was in English with them when Ms. Tezuka called them down. I’ve never heard her that angry before.” Chase added.

Karolina snorted.

“That’s funny because when I went to talk to her about it she didn’t giving a flying fuck.”

“She was probably about possible blowback from acknowledging the misogynistic bullshit.” Gert said sadly.

“Guys, look!” exclaimed Alex, pointing to the school yard. “They’re leaving.”

They looked to where Alex was pointing and saw Brandon and Lucas, their parents just behind them, heading back to their cars. By the looks on their parents’ faces they weren’t happy.

They didn’t have time to discuss, as Principal Tezuka picked that exact moment to ask to Karolina to follow her to her office.

“Can my friends come with me?” Karolina asked.

“I’m afraid that my office is too small for all of you.” Ms. Tezuka replied. “You can pick one to go with you if you like, Miss Dean?”

The blonde girl immediately turned her eyes on Nico and didn’t need to say a word before the Goth took her hand in hers and squeezed gently. Gert watched them go, worried for Karolina but also thinking the way Nico put her arm around her waist for comfort was adorable.

She, Chase and Alex didn’t move an inch from the principal’s office door. They called Molly to tell her what was going on and the girl cut out of her classes the first chance she got to join them. They chatted for a while, wondering what the principal was saying to Karolina, but froze and turned when they heard the distinctive tone of Nico’s angry voice.

“Why didn’t you let me fight her!?” Nico complained.

“Because I don’t want you to get into any more trouble for me.” Karolina replied, giving her a smile and squeezing her hand (which she was still holding) gently.

The two girls saw they weren’t alone, to Karolina’s dismay, and they walked the rest of the distance to the band.

“They’re just suspended for now…” Karolina said, miserably. “It’s only temporally and they should be back in a few days …”

“Seriously?!” Gert exclaimed. “What else did she need to give those assholes the boot?!”

“She only suspended them so it wouldn’t have to deal with everyone finding out what they did while the police investigate.” Nico said with disgust. “She’s so sure the case will be closed quickly, she only got rid of them for a week.”

“This is disgusting.” stated Chase.

“Totally…” Agreed Alex. “I’m gonna call Livvie to give her an update on the situation.” he added, putting his glasses back on his nose.

Gert looked at the rest of the band and they all shared a knowing look. Alex just rolled his eyes, muttering “morons” as he walked away, pulling his phone out.

“Do you think we should help Alex by inviting Livvie to our club meeting today?” Gert wondered aloud. She’d said it mainly as a joke, but it actually wasn’t a bad idea. After all, Livvie was just as much a part of all this as the rest of the band. And Gert would gladly welcome the girl to their weekly meetings even if she didn’t go to the school. She was certain they could sneak her into Atlas with no one being any the wiser.

But at her request, her friends suddenly got weird looks. They were exchanging glances and Gert didn’t understand what it was about.

And she hated that.

“What?” she asked, maybe harsher than she wanted.

“Nothing.” lied Karolina, her eyes moving between Gert and Chase.

“I didn’t think it was that bad an idea?” Gert groused, crossing her arms on her chest.

The rest of the girls were looking at Chase hesitantly and Gert started wondering what the hell her boyfriend was planning behind her back.

“Chase?” she asked in her best imitation of her mother’s “threatening trouble” voice and one eyebrow cocked.

“It’s nothing, babe.” he said, and she blushed a little at the pet name. “I just…can’t be here for the meeting this afternoon. I’ve got a test to retake for Spanish, remember?”

Gert frowned. She was almost certain that test Senior Walter (finally) agreed to let Chase retake was next Wednesday because she was supposed to help him study for it and they hadn’t done anything yet. Mostly because every time she was offered to start on that Chase started kissing her and she forgot what she was talking about in the first place.

She really needed to be less weak about that.

She was about to start an argument with him when the bell rang, telling them to get back to class. Chase kissed her cheek and left before she could speak again, and the rest of the band do the same. Minus the kisses of course.

She went to class a few seconds later still wondering what the hell was going on.

She didn’t pay much attention in History and didn’t manage much better in French after that, and before she could blink, the day was over and it was time for the meeting.

As she turned the final corner on her rout to the library Gert found Helena sticking a note to the door.

“Hey!” Gert greeted her with a wave. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing to the paper.

“Gert!” Helena turned around, jumping a little of surprise. “Oh, it’s just…”

“The library is close for the rest of day?” Gert read aloud. “Why?”

“Oh… Uh…” she seemed to scramble with her thoughts. “I’m just not feeling well… I’m going home. But you can still have your club meeting, don’t worry.”

“Really? Are you okay?” Gert asked, concerned.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just a headache.” Helena lied terribly. “Here, I let you the keys. If you can just close behind you once the meeting is over?”

“Uh-huh… You’re sure everything is alright?” Gert asked, grabbing the keys from the librarian and folding her arms across her chest.

“Yes, don’t worry. And have fun.” She winked knowingly, making Gert frown. “But not too much.” She added with a warning tone, and Gert was even more lost.

“Okaaaay…” she said hesitantly.

And with that, Helena was gone. Gert shook her head and decided to just go in, but it only made her more confused. The room was mostly in the dark because the curtains were all closed for some reason. The only source of light was coming from some fakes candles, the ones that run on battery. They was one the floor, one next to a basket full of snacks, like the kind of thing you’d see on a picnic.

“What the…” she started.

“Surprise?” A voice from behind her asked.

She turned around to find Chase, staring at her hesitantly like he was worrying about her reaction.

“You did this?” she asked, a little out of breath all of a sudden.

He nodded.

“I know that dates are heteronormative and all that…” he started and she felt her heart melt at him quoting her, “but, if you don’t want to do some heteronormativity with me, we can just say it’s our weekly club meeting and not a date. Except it’s just the two of us. And the mood is a little bit more romantic than usual.” He finished, watching her intensely, looking for her reaction.

“D-did you… H-how…” she stammered, loss of words.

That was the cutest thing anyone had ever done for her.

“I planned this today during free period. Helena helped me a lot.” he explained, biting his lip nervously. “If you don’t like it, I can get rid of the candles and …” he started.

“No!” she rushed to say. “No, it’s really great Chase.”

She looked at him and hoped the deep fondness she felt for him was clear on her face.

She moved closer to him, grabbing his face with both hands to kiss him tenderly. He smiled against her lips and depended the kiss a little, tangling one hand’s fingers in her hair, the other cupping her jaw gently.

“So…” he exhaled as they separated. “You really like it?”

“Yes, I do.” she pecked his lips again. “It’s really sweet, Chase. Thank you.”

He grinned happily, putting his lips on her mouth one more time before grabbing her hand and leading her down to the blanket that was spread out on the floor. Chase grabbed the two flute glasses that were standing in front of them as well as a bottle of _Pepsi_.

“Helena was OK for letting the library for the two of us, but she said no alcohol.” He explained while serving them the soda in the fancy glasses.

“Well, it’s a little too early for Champagne anyway.” Gert giggled grabbing the flute he handed her. “Plus, it nice to drink _Pepsi_ in flutes. It reminds me of when we were little, trying to copy the adults at the Pride events.”

“Oh, do you remembered the day Nico bet Alex she could drink her flute faster than him?”

“He drank so fast he ended up with _Pepsi_ coming out his nose.” Gert replied, and they both laugh at the memory.

“So…” he whispered, leaning closer to her and raising his drink. “What should we toast to?”

“What about this date?” she said just to see his face lit up instantly.

“So, you’re OK with saying it’s a date and not a club meeting?” he asked, teasingly.

“Maybe…” she replied in the same tone. “But don’t spread it around. I have a reputation to maintain.”

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” he grinned, putting his lips on hers one more time.

They split apart and clinked their glasses together, taking a sip from their drinks. Chase grabbed a bag of _Cheetos_ in front of him and opened it, handing it to Gert so she could serve herself first before doing the same. When the two flutes were empty and the bag of snack was half gone, Gert pushed everything aside to drag Chase into a (hot) makeout session.

She tangled her fingers in his hair this time, pulling him closer and moving her tongue teasingly against his lips. He groaned, opening his mouth to play with her hungrily. He was sprawled next to her, but when she felt his fingers playing in her hair just the way that she knew he was crazy about, she let herself pull closer to him. They were chest to chest, and she wasn’t sure if it was his heart or hers she could feel pounding.

At some point she ended up straddling him, making Chase kiss her even more passionately if that was possible. One of his hands went to her thigh and, as she was wearing a skirt, she felt even more electrified by his palm on her skin.

She let go of his mouth to press little kisses on his neck, and he moaned when she reached a sensitive point at the base of his neck where it met his shoulder. She slipped her hands under his shirt, brushing her fingertips on the firmness of his abs, lifting the material with her hand as she went up to his chest. She fisted her fingers in his t-shirt and was about to take it off to have full access to his hot torso, when he stopped her.

“Gert …” He called her, and she stopped her ministrations.

She realized how wrecked he was looking right now, hair a mess, lips red and swollen from all the kissing, and blushing a little. His pupils were dilated and he had little red marks all along his neck where she’d gone to town on him.

“I…um.” He cleared his throat. “As much as I love all of this, maybe we shouldn’t do naughty things in the school library…” He stopped himself when he realized what he just said, suddenly worried. “I mean, not that I’m assuming that you want to do naughty things. It’s just… We were… I’m… Uh…” He was blushing even harder than before, his whole face turning the same shade as a tomato.

Gert bit her lip to stifle her giggles, amused by this cute behavior. She cupped his jaw with one hand, kissing him on the lips tenderly to stop his struggles.

“It’s okay.” she whispered, brushing his cheek with her thumb. “I get it. Helena was super nice by letting us use the library for this, I wouldn’t want her to get into trouble because we did “naughty things” in here.” she chuckled.

Chase’s face relaxed, but she wasn’t done with messing with him yet. It was too adorable to see him flustered and she wanted to see what effect she could have a little more.

“Not that I would be against it you know...” she started, giggling internally when she saw his lost expression. “Doing naughty things in the library.” she explained teasingly, Chase’s shocked face only increasing her amusement. “With you…” she added next to his ear, pressing one more wet kiss on his neck just under his lobe, and Chase chocked on his own saliva.

She stepped back laughing loudly at the way he was staring at her, trying to fake being annoyed but all she could see was amusement and (a lot of) arousal in his eyes.

“You’re driving me crazy, you do realize that, don’t you?” he bit his lip.

“Maaaaybe…” she giggled.

She decided to put him out of his misery, pressing a soft kiss on his temple before getting up and immediately missing his warmth.

“Come on, let’s go home.” she said, sticking her hand out to help him up.

She pulled him to his feet and he grabbed the picknick basket, still grinning happily. They packed up everything, making sure to leave the place clean. Gert locked the library door, grabbing her boyfriend’s hand as they walked to the parking lot. Once they were outside, Gert realized the sun was already started to set. Time had passed so quick, which was pretty usual when she was with him to be honest.

“Thanks for planning all this.” she said, kissing his cheek sweetly once he was sitting next to her in the car.

“So…You wouldn’t mind going on another date with me?” he asked, smiling hopefully.

“I’d love to.” she whispered, brushing her fingers along the hairs at the back of his neck.

He grinned goofily, kissing her lips with such tenderness she was melting from the inside.

Maybe she wouldn’t mind some heteronormativity in her life. As long as it was with him…


	22. Spanish tutoring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

_I miss U…_

Gert giggled at the message. Chase was gone to New York for the weekend. It was the first time he’d seen his parents in a month. And it’s only been 24 hours since he left for the airport, kissing her senseless like they were going to be apart for years and not just a few days. And since he arrived in New York Chase had been texting her constantly. It was cute, but also kind of ridiculous.

She replied, amused: _You’ll see me in 24h!_

He texted back immediately: _It’s too long!_

And she laughed, shaking her head at how silly he could be.

She wrote: _Enjoy this time with your parents! You won’t see them before another month!_

She saw the three points indicating that Chase was writing something. It was like he wasn’t sure of what to answer, deleting and retyping multiples times. Until finally she received a new message:

_Say that 2 my mom, she’s taking me to a museum …_

_A freaking museum Gert!_

_I’m in New York! There’s thousands of incredible things to do and she picks a museum!!!!_

_Argh!_

_:( :( :(_

Gert laughed loudly, picturing her boyfriend’s annoyed face. She typed on her phone:

_Museums are great!_

_If you pay attention, I’m sure you’ll love it!_

_And stop texting me! Enjoy this mother-son bonding time._

His only reply was “…” and a 😢, but she knew he wasn’t mad or sad. Just acting childish.

She bit her lip before sending back “ _I miss you too by the way …”_ , and hesitating only a few seconds before sending it anyway.

His answer was quick this time too, and Gert could picture his cocky smile as the words appeared on her phone: _I knew it ;)_

She groaned, half annoyed and half amused, typing out another message: _Don’t be so cocky. That pretty head of yours won’t fit through doorways if it gets bigger._

When she saw his reply, she grunted even more: _So… You think I’m pretty?_

It was follow by a lots of smileys, and she simply sent him a gif of Robert Downey Jr rolling his eyes, locking her phone and putting it back in her pocket when he continued spamming her with texts and emoji’s.

“How is Chase doing?” asked Molly next to her, bringing her back to her surroundings.

The girl had drag her to the mall, saying she needed new clothes for her dance rehearsals. Gert had no other plans for the weekend and she was happy to spend time with Molly, so she’d gone along with no real protest.

“How do you know it was Chase?” Gert asked.

“You’ve got that goofy looking smile. It’s cute, but kinda disturbing too…” Molly shrugged as she trailed off.

Gert grimaced at her own ridiculousness. She’d become exactly they type of girl she’d openly mocked only a few weeks ago. But when she thought about Chase, she couldn’t stop smiling. Maybe it was silly, but she didn’t really care.

“You’ll see when you’ll live it.” Gert replied on a joking tone.

“If you say so.” Molly shrugged. “It’s just seem weird for me; you know? Love.”

“Well, you’re young. You’ll have a lot of time to figure it out. Don’t worry.” Gert said, putting an arm around the girl’s shoulders and squeezing.

“Sure.” Molly nodded. “Even if, when I saw the guys in my class having a fart contest during Gym, I really wondered how the hell I’m supposed to fall for one of those specimens…” Her face twisted into a portrait of disgust.

“Yeah …” Gert grimaced too. “The sad thing is that, thanks to our patriarchal society, one of these morons is more likely to end up working an important post in the government.” She shook her head sadly. “Anyway. Luckily, not all of them are like that.”

Molly knew exactly who she was thinking of right then, the little girl’s eyebrows rose up teasingly.

Gert cleared her throat and hastened to add: “And it doesn’t have to be a boy. You can love whoever you want.”

It was the truth but also because she wanted to move on another subject. It worked as Molly’s playful smirk disappeared, leaving for a confuse expression on the little girl’s face. Gert worried for a second she might have pushed a button she shouldn’t have but she held her tongue, letting Molly work through whatever it was she was feeling.

“I never really thought about it before.” Molly confessed.

“You’re only 14. Like I said, you’ve got time.” Gert smiled, gently rubbing her friend’s shoulder.

“I know.” Molly nodded. “But, to be honest … I wouldn’t be surprised if I did. Catch feeling for a girl, I mean.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Molls.” Gert said softly.

“Oh, I know.” she said, nodding vigorously. “But … there’s also been some boys that I found attractive. I mean, not the ones from Gym, obviously. But like you said, they’re not all like that…”

“There’s also nothing wrong about liking both. And you’re not the only girl here who does as a matter of fact.”

“Really?”

Gert gave what she hoped was both a grin and a reassuring smile. “I dated a girl before Chase. If you could really call that ‘dating’… Chase is kind of my first real relationship, so…” she rambled, but stopped herself. After all, this wasn’t about her right now. “Anyway, it’s just call being bisexual, you’re attract to both gender. Boys and Girls.”

Molly nodded silently, considering what Gert was explaining to her. Gert saw that she still had a lot of questions going through her head, and she wanted to be there for her.

“Not to be confused with being pansexual.” The purple hair girl added. When she saw Molly’s questioning eyes, she continued her explications. “That’s when you’re attract to people, regardless of their sex or gender identity.”

“Pansexual…” Molly said, sounding out the word before lapsing into a few minutes of silence. “I think… I think that’s what describe me best… Pansexual.”

“It’s really beautiful, Molls.” Gert said, looking at the little girl, feeling a warm, proud bubble grow inside her chest.

“Thanks.” Molly smiled and wrapping her arms around Gert’s waist. “And thanks for helping me. It’s… really nice to know who I am.”

“No problem.”

“Even if, I’m pretty sure I won’t have time for relationship now. I’m too busy focusing on my dancing career for that.” Molly said in her best imitation of Gert.

Gert laughed and Molly joined before squeezed her tightly as Gert hugged her back, happy she could help this girl and only slightly groaning at the feeling of her ribs straining under the pressure. Damn, Molly was stronger than she looked. They split apart, giggling happily, and Molly dragged them into another boutique to continue their shopping spree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Chase…” Gert groaned, pushed him away weakly with one hand as he was kissing his way down her neck. “Come on, you asked me to help you with Spanish!”

He’d been back less than an hour and retaining herself from jumping on him the second she saw him was torture. He’d talked politely with Stacey and Dale, telling them about New York and his parents, but shooting some hidden heart-eyed looks at Gert the whole time. After a while he excused himself, saying he still need to study for his Spanish test on Wednesday, and asking Gert if she could help him with that. Her parents suspected nothing, and that’s how she ended up on her bed, with Chase attacking her mouth, and now her neck with his lips.

“Well, we were experimenting with different tongues, so …”

“Chase!” she giggled, slapping his arm lightly. “Come on!”

“Okay, okay!” he surrendered, raising his hands and giggling right back. “But, I’ve got something for you first…” he teased, getting up to grab something from his backpack.

She frowned, watching him sitting back down next to her, his hands behind his back to hide what he was holding.

“What is it?” she asked.

He said nothing, simply handing her a small, carefully wrapped box. Her eyes widened and she grabbed the gift with her heart pounding.

“You didn’t have to …” she started.

“I know. But I wanted to.” he smiled. “It’s just… It reminded me of you when I saw it. Come on, open it!”

She bit her lips, unwrapping the box with shaking hands.

“Oh my God …” her breath whooshed out of her when she saw what it was. “Chase …” she turned her eyes on him again and noticed how nervous he was. “It’s beautiful!”

She saw his body immediately relax.

“Really, you like it?”

She looked at the bracelet in her hand. Silver with a moon stone in the center. Simple, but so pretty.

“Of course!”

“I saw it in the museum gift shop actually. They had a whole thing of jewelry made with moon stone, to go with the whole space thing.” he explained. “I know the rock doesn’t actually come from the moon, but it reminded me of our astronomy project in 8th grade. And the first time we kissed, on the same spot. On my roof, next to the telesco… Humph!”

She didn’t let him finish, putting her lips on his, kissing him fiercely.

“It’s so sweet, Chase… I love it. Thank you.” she whispered into his lips when they pulled apart for air.

He chuckled happily, helping her putting the bracelet on her wrist, kissing her one more time.

“But don’t think it’ll make me forget about your Spanish test …” she said, pulling away from him to grab her flashcards, grinning wickedly to herself.

“Humph!” He grunted, slumping against her headboard. 

She started to quiz him on some vocabulary, the names for furniture, asking him for the English translation.

It went… poorly

“ _La pared_?” asked Gert, watching Chase’s frustration after five wrongs answers in a row.

“It’s … Uh … Chair?” he tried, already knowing he was completely wrong.

“Nope.” She replied, making a sorry smile.

“Agh! This is pointless!” he whined. “I’ll never get it, I’m too stupid for this…”

“Hey! Don’t say that!” she pointed a finger for emphasis. “You’re smart, you just… Need to a little help.”

“Humph!” He grumbled, shoving his face into one of Gert’s pillows. “Maybe I should just tell Senior Walter I can’t take the test. It’s pointless to try to retake it if I can’t get a better grade…”

“You’ll get a better grade, have some faith in yourself!” she stated, and when she saw he was about to argue it she talked right over him. “You’re not dumb Chase. I don’t know why you think so little of your intelligence, even if I do hope it’s not my fault because of all the times I called you stupid over the years…”

“No! It’s not your fault.” he cut her off, sitting up to look her in the eyes. “I mean, it wasn’t nice, but I wasn’t either when I completely ignored you, so…”

“It’s fine. Guess we’re even.” she smiled.

He grinned happily, coming closer to kiss her lips sweetly.

“And…” she said, pulling back from him. “You’re gonna pass this test even if it kills me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure it won’t…” he groaned slumping back against her pillows.

“Don’t be so grumpy!” she slapped his arm gently. “You just need something that could help you learn Spanish. Some motivation…”

She stopped herself, an idea occurring to her that would definitely get his attention. It was risqué though… She bit her lips and blushed at the thought.

“You okay?” Chase asked her, tilting his head curiously which was so damn cute.

“Uh … Yes.” she nodded. “I… just got an idea.”

Chase rose an eyebrow and she cleared her throat.

“I’ll ask you for a translation, and if you get it right… I’ll take one piece of clothing off.” she started, biting her lip as she saw Chase’s eyes get huge. “But if you get it wrong… you have to take one of yours off…”

If Chase’s face was surprised before, it was nothing compare to what it was expressing now. It was like his brain had suddenly stop working and left him sitting there totally speechless. Gert was nervous about his lack of response, and was about to try to pass it off by saying it was just a joke, when Chase burning eyes met hers.

“OK.” he said in a husky voice, sending shivers over her skin.

Gert could feel face flushing with as much arousal as was in his eyes, and she grabbed her flashcards in trembling hand again. She gulped at her bad luck, seeing that the first word of this new, and more dangerous, round.

“ _El sof_ _á_?” she said and he smirked.

“Sofa.” he replied, knowing it was the right answer.

And as much as she liked that he was feeling more confident about his proficiency with Spanish, she wanted to wipe that smug smirk off his face. Gert was wearing shorts a tank top, but she also had on a pair of mis-matched socks that reached up to mid-calf. She decided to play a little dirty and pulled one the socks off.

“That’s totally not fair.” he whined, pouting.

“The rule was a piece of my clothes. Socks count as clothes. Just ask _Dobby_.” she teased, grinning.

He chuckled and they continued. When Chase got the next one wrong he decided to give her a taste of her own medicine, taking off one of his socks too. But after two more questions, one he got right and one he got wrong, they were both bare foot and didn’t have any more cheats to play.

And the real game began.

“ _La mesa_?”

“Uh … Bed?”

“Nope.” she smirked.

He bit his lip, he slowly lifted his t-shirt over his head.

She indulged in some unabashed staring, taking her time to peruse her boyfriend’s well-muscled form. Chase noticed and was grinning at her smugly, but she pretended to not see it.

“ _La silla_?”

“Bed?”

“Are you gonna try that until it’s the right answer?” .

“Maybe.” he shrugged. “So?”

“Nope. Guess you’ll have to try again.” she giggled.

He chuckled, getting off the bed to take his jeans off. And Gert’s giggles died in her throat. Chase was standing in front of her, in nothing more than his boxers. His tiny, tight boxers that left little to her imagination. Damn, he’s got a cute ass…

“Enjoying the view?” he teased, seeing where her eyes had wandered.

“Well … they’re a pretty pair of… Boxers…” she exhaled slowly, blushing madly at her own boldness.

“Yeah?” he smirked. “Thank _Calvin Klein_ for that …”

She giggled and he sat back on the bed next to her, gesturing for her to continue. She flipped the cards in her hands, biting the inside of her cheek when she saw what the next word was.

“ _La cama_?” She questioned, praying internally that Chase would have forget his previous plan.

“Bed?” he repeated, and to her dismay he was right this time.

“…Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“See, perseverance wins.” he sing-songed.

“Yeah, that and your freaking good luck.” she grumbled.

She put the flashcards to the side, taking a deep breath. She grabbed the hem of her tank top and played with it hesitantly.

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.” Chase reassured her.

“I know.” She said. “But I do want to. Only seem fair of me to respect the rules, too.” she added, gesturing to his own almost naked body.

It was true. She was just a little bit stressed at the thought of Chase seeing her in a bra. He’d seen her in a swim bath before, but it was different. That was less intimate and they weren’t a thing back then. Also, her anxiety wasn’t really helping her state of nervousness right now.

“Well…” he whispered softly. “I wouldn’t mind you following those rules… But only because I feel lonely being the only one without a shirt on in this room…” he joked.

“Of course…” she giggled.

And under Chase’s sweet and amused gaze, she put the fabric of her top above her head, congratulating herself mentally for having put on a lacy/sexy navy blue bra this morning.

She brushed her hair out of her face, meeting Chase’s eyes again.

Chase’s absolutely incendiary eyes.

“Enjoying the view?” she teased, using the same mocking tone he had before when she noticed his gaze was clearly locked on her breasts.

“Well … It’s a pretty pair of… Bra…” he replied hesitantly, clearly hoping she get it.

“Thank _Victoria Secrets_ for that …” she smirked, ending his distress.

He chuckled, and they decided to get back to their “study” session, the mood now heavily charged with (sexual) tension.

“ _El estante_?”

“Table?”

“Wrong.”

They stared at each other, knowing what was coming next. Chase had lost and there was only one (tiny) piece of clothing on him left. If he took it off, it’d leave him completely…

Naked.

“You don’t have to …” she whispered, blushing a even more.

“I d-don’t mind. If you don’t, of course.” he replied, his voice as soft as hers and shaky.

“I-I don’t.” she stuttered.

He got out of the bed, putting his thumbs under the band of his boxers, and as he slowly pulled them down she kept her eyes on him. Or, more specifically, on that part of him.

He’d been right. He wasn’t small at all…

She shook her head, chasing that thought away, and moving her eyes back to a safer place, his face. He was staring at her knees instead of her face, and his cheeks were as red as her owns. She thought he would have a cocky smile on his face, but actually he was looking really embarrassed. And Gert felt reassured knowing that, despite the fact that Chase was objectively a pretty (hot) boy, he could be as insecure as she was about her body.

“Y-you okay?” she asked, clearing her throat.

“Y-yeah. You?” he asked back.

“Yes.” she replied and, after a small pause, she added with a husky voice: “ _More_ than okay.”

She noticed his eyes filling with desire, and she briefly wondered if he was having the same warm feeling in his stomach as she did.

“S-should we keep going?” he stammered and her eyes widened a little. “The study game, I mean!” he explained when he realized this question could have a double sense.

Gert signed of relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go further with him, but her parents were still practically right under them. Her door was locked, but the walls of the house were _thin_ , so …

Plus, he still need to get ready for his test.

“Well, you’re naked, so I guess it’s technically over…” she bit her lip. “M-maybe we should get back to the real study session.”

“Yeah, I still need to pass this test after all.” he smiled understanding. “Though I did make some progress, now I know that _la cama_ means bed.”

“Yeah?” she giggled.

“Yeah.” He replied, looking straight at her in the eyes with his dilated pupils. “It’s burn to my brain now.” He added with a hoarse voice.

Was he referring at the moment she took her top off? She lowered her gaze. feeling butterflies in her stomach.

“Should I put my pants back on?” he asked and she didn’t dare look at that part of him again. Honest…

“Uh? Oh, yeah.” she got came back to Earth. “I should probably put my shirt back on, too.”

“If you want me to actually focus on Spanish that’d probably be best, yeah.” he said, only half joking.

She rolled her eyes, but giggled anyway, throwing a pillow at him. He caught it laughing, putting it back on the bed before grabbing his clothes to put them back on. She imitated him, so they could get back to actually studying.

There was a moment burned into her brain now too…


	23. camping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

“Gert! Gert!” Chase called from across the hall. 

She turned around from her locker to see him running in her direction.

After their “tutoring” session they had actually gotten some studying done, with clothes on this time, and Chase seemed to have finally found some motivation to learn Spanish. She did notice his eyes wandering on her body through, especially when she asked him the translation of “la cama” again. And yes, he got it right on the first try.

Now the boy was so impatient to show her what grade he got it was kind of cute.

“I got an A!” he exclaimed, waving his Spanish test in front of her so hard she could barely make out the grade in bright red ink.

“That’s awesome, baby!” she said, realizing too late what she’d just said.

Chase, who had been practically bouncing with joy before, completely lost it at the nickname, a giant grin on his lips and that look in his eye that meant he was about to kiss her senseless.

“Ahem… Guys…” called a voice next to them.

They stepped apart to see Karolina looking at them amused, but also there was something else in her eyes.

Was it… Fear?

“I’m really sorry to interrupt this, but…” she gestured through the glass doors to the parking lot and that’s when they saw them.

Them being Brandon and Lucas walking back towards theschool like nothing had ever happened. And the security guards weren’t stopping them. They were greeted by some other jocks from the team and some of their groupies, like they were some kind of heroes.

Fuck, it was disgusting.

“What the…” she started.

“Alex’s mom called me this morning. She said she spoke with her LAPD friends. Brandon’s parents hired a super expensive lawyer to get them off. The guy is a real shark, so it’s gonna be harder. She’s not giving up, but...”

“If there is someone who can bite harder than a shark it’s Catherine Wilder.” Gert stated, keeping her voice as firm and confident as she could.

“Yeah.” the blonde girl breathed, clearly scared but she seemed somewhat comforted. “She’s on it, but meanwhile, the boys are allowed to come back in school.”

“What about Lucas?” Chase questioned, and Karolina’s face drop even more.

“He’s completely off the hook. It was Brandon who assault Livvie and me. Even if Lucas was there and did nothing to stop him, technically he didn’t do anything legally wrong.”

“Oh For…!” Gert snarled, glaring at them.

The two boys were walking down the hall, smirking evilly at the their group. When Brandon passed by Karolina he muttered “Pathetic, bitch” under his breath. Chase saw red, and if it hadn’t been for Gert stepping in front of her boyfriend he would have jumped Brandon then and there.

“He’s not worth it.” she whispered calmly in his ear, brushing his arm in a soothing motion.

Chase relaxed next to her as Alex, Nico and Molly pulled up next to them, having gotten Karolina’s frantic texts a few minutes ago.

“You okay?” Nico asked to Karolina.

“Y-yeah. Fine.” The blonde girl smile to reassure them.

It fooled exactly nobody.

Nico and Chase started to work on a plan to murder the guys,and Gert worried that they weren’t just joking.

“Have some faith in my Mom guys. They’ll get what’s coming to them.” Alex said.

“Yeah, but…” Nico said.

“Nico.” Karolina taking her hand and holding it gently. “I know you’re trying to help, but you won’t do any good if you end up in jail.” she added, brushing a strand of hair behind her friend/crush’s ear.

Gert looked at Chase and they shared a knowing smile, amused at the cuteness even in the middle of this clustrfuck of a day.

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine… If that’s what you really want, I won’t kill them.” Nico capitulated, though her tone made it clear she wasn’t happy about it.

“Good.” Karolina smiled. “Now, let’s talk about something else, please. I don’t want to spend my day talking about them. They’re not worth it.”

“We could do a camping trip this week-end? I know actually areally good spot.” suggested Molly.

“Yes! That!” Karolina exclaimed. “If you guys are up for it?”

Nobody had any objections. Strangely. Alex even suggestedasking Livvie if she wanted to come with and, after some lightteasing and suggestive smirks, the band said OK to invitingher too. Molly and Karolina spent the rest of the day planning their little trip, helping the blonde girl forget about Brandon and Lucas’ existence. Nico also glued herself to Karolina side, making sure Karolina wouldn’t have to find herself alone and making sure none of the groupies got anywhere near the blonde.

The rest of the week went by without any more drama and, before she could blink it seemed, Gert found her and her little family in a very pretty camping spot trying to set the four tents Molly and Chase had acquired for them.

It was a calm clearing on top of the city, from where they could see the stars. And Gert had to admit, it was beautiful. Livvie was there with them, helping Molly gather some kindling to start a fire so they could roast some marshmallows.Chase and Karolina were setting up stones for the fire pit, and Nico, Alex and Gert were trying to set up the tents. Nico, who was use to go on camping trip with her family when she was younger, already had two of them set up, while Gert and Alex were still struggling with the same tent for the last half hour.

“Do you guys need some help?” asked Livvie, dropping her load of twigs, bark and smaller fallen branches.

Alex, who’d somehow managed to get himself tangled in thefabric of the tent, practically screamed a “yes” and she rushed to help him, giggling. Nico came to Gert’s rescue as she fell over laughing at Alex’s predicament, and before too long the camp was finally all set up. They all sat in front of the fire on blankets and Molly begged them to start a game because she was bored.

“What about truth or dare?” offered Livvie the rest of the band gave shrugs and noises of agreement. “Cool! Who wants to start?”

“It was your idea so, I guess you should start.” Alex smiled at her.

“Cool! Then, Alex… Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

“What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done on a date?” Livvie grinned teasingly.

Alex’ entire body went stiff and Nico, who was sitting acrossfrom the boy, snorted.

“Oh, I know the answer to this one…” Nico singsonged and Alex glared at her.

“I… Can I do a dare instead?” he asked, pleadingly.

“Nope! No backing out. Once you choose you can’t change what you picked.” stated Livvie, grinning and very impatient to hear this story.

“Fine…” Alex sighed. “When Nico and I were a thing…” he started, and there was no venom in his voice at the memory. Gert was happy it sounded like he’d actually moved on. “We went to dinner at this Italian restaurant. I ordered some spaghettis and I was eating when Nico told me a joke a joke and…”

“And?” Chase pressed after Alex paused for too long.

“And the spaghetti came out of my nose…”

The band burst into laughter at they imagined the scene in their heads.

“That’s not the worst of it! He insisted on calling a Lift to go to the hospital. I had to come with him to the emergency roomon our first date…” Nico added.

“I was scared! Food is not supposed to pass from the esophagus to the nose!” Alex tried to defend himself, only making everyone laugh harder.

“Damn, Wilder.” Chase said while wiping away tears from his eyes. “No wonder, Nic’ didn’t want to go on another date with you.” he joked, knowing Alex wouldn’t take it badly.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Now, if you all finish laughing at me, can we continue?” Alex grumbled. The rest of the band calm down, so he could ask: “Nico, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Show us the most embarrassing photo of you on your phone.” he smirked, happy to get his revenge.

Nico groaned, muttering a few insult while she got her phone out of her pocket and pulled up her camera roll. She stiffed after a few seconds she stopped, blushing deep red.

“I can’t show you this…” she complained, trying to put the phone back in her jacket.

“Nope.” Karolina stopped who was sitting next to her. “You have to show us! It’s the rule.”

Nico whined, but surrendered, showing the rest of the group picture and making everyone start up laughing.

It was a picture of her from only a few years ago, dressed with a pink princess Halloween costume and a scowl that would make Grumpy Cat jealous.

“Oh my God! I almost forgot you wore that thing.” Karolinasaid between laughs.

“Not me. I think it was the day I became allergic to pink…” Nico grumbled as everyone calmed down. “Come on, my turn! Karo, truth or dare?”

“Um… Truth.”

“Who was your worst kiss ever? Even if I’m pretty sure we already know the answer…” Nico asked, eying Chase with a mocking face.

“Ha-ha, very funny.” he replied.

“Yeah, sorry Chase…” Karolina said sheepishly. “But Nico is right… It was definitely you.”

“Great. My kiss was so awful, even the one you had with thatboy in kinder garden outshone me…” he mock grumbled.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t remember much of that. Just that Cody had made me a flower crown and when I wanted to kiss him on the cheek to thank him it accidently ended up on his mouth. I don’t even know if we can call that a real kiss…”

“Is your ego feeling better?” Gert asked her boyfriend, an exaggerated pout of concern on her face.

“It will if you tell me I’m not the worst kisser on Earth…” he said, only half joking.

“If you were, do you really think I spend so much time kissing you?” she replied, grinning.

“You make a point.” he nodded.

She chuckled, shaking her head at the silliness of her boyfriend. She whispered a “come here” and put her lips on his softly. He smiled against her, tangling his fingers in her hair to depend the kiss.

“Ahem…” Nico coughed. “You two are truly adorable, but can you save that for when it’s just the two of you? We still have a game to continue.”

“Right, sorry. Go head, Kar’.” Chase said.

“Sure.” Karolina smiled. “OK, then… Chase. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Oh… Post an extremely bad picture of yourself on Instagram!” she giggled.

“OK, let me just find one…” he said while taking his phone in his hand.

“Is that even possible?” Gert teased him.

He chuckled, showing her a picture of him with messy hair.

“What about this one? My hair isn’t done.”

“You kidding, right? You’re even hotter like this!” Gert whined, grabbing the phone from his hands. “Let me see…”

She scrolled, biting her lips when she noticed the number of pictures of her in his gallery. Some were even from the time they weren’t talking anymore, just print screen of her Instagram. Maybe he was a stalker after all… She looked at him with a mock glare, showing him she knew about his secret and he blushed, embarrass. She giggled and kept digging, decided she’ll use this to torture him later.

“Oh! I find one!” Gert finally exclaimed, showing him a picture of a much younger him sleeping with his mouth open on the school bus window, saliva dripping from his mouth. “I actually think you can give me the credit of this one. If I remember correctly, I was the photographer.”

“Argh… I forgot about that one…” he grumbled, taking the phone back. “OK, it’s done.” he said after a few taps.

Gert checked her Instagram feed immediately, liking the picture as soon as she saw it, with the legend “I can’t believe you saw me like this and still wanted to be with me… Thanks @GertYorkes for taking the most beautiful picture of me ever ♡♡♡”.

“Now, my turn!”  he exclaimed, clapping his hands happily. “Gert? Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” she said, deciding to trust him on this one.

“Kiss the person on your left…”  he smirked cockily.

She rolled her eye s. Of course that’s what he’d say

“Really Chase?” Nico snorted.

“What, it’s a dare!”  he said.

Gert chuckled, grabbing his face to kiss him tenderly . When she pulled back she noticed the rest of the band was looking at them amused . But also noticed Nico was pouting .

“That  doesn’t count, she’s your girlfriend!” Karolina argued, taking Nico’s side. “You have to do another dare!”

“Fine!” Gert yielded. “ Since you two are unhappy about it, just give me another dare” She said, gesturing to Nico and Karolina.

Nico  scooted closer to the blonde, whispering something in her ear, and even in the dark Gert could see the blush on Karolina’s face a s Nico’s arm went around her shoulders . 

“We’ve got one!” stated Karolina, when she managed to pullherself together again. “Tell us a secret you’ve never told anyone before.”

Gert’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh. Well, there was one, but Chase’s already hear it…” Speaking of the devil, Chase must have sense her disarray because he grabbed her hand tenderly, brushing small circles with his thumb to reassure her. She turned to face him, seeing his smile making her feeling instantly better.

“I have anxiety.” she confessed, once she felt strong enough to say it aloud.

There was a small silence after that and she could feel her heart beating faster in her chest.

“Do you…have meds for that?” asked Nico.

“Yeah. I also see a therapist.” she replied, stressing out about finally telling her friends about her.

“I used to see one, too.” Nico confessed and Gert felt her heart pinch. It was probably because of Amy… “She was a real bitch. I hope yours is better.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s nice.” Gert smiled. “So… You guys don’t think I’m a freak?” she asked hesitantly, only partially kidding. She felt Chase immediately tensing up at the horrible word.

“No. Of course not!” Karolina exclaimed.

“You’re our friend, how could we think that?” Molly added.

“You’re probably the saner of us all.” Alex reassured her.

“Well, I haven’t known you for super long, but there’s nothing wrong with you as far as I can see.” Livvie smiled to her.

“The only crazy thing about you, is that you thought you hadfeelings for Chase…” Nico joked.

“Hey!” he shouted, offended,s and Gert laughed. She kissed his cheek quickly, to cheer him up.

“Come on, my turn!” Gert exclaimed. “Karolina, truth or dare?”

“Oh… Uh… Dare.”

Gert bit the inside of her cheek. She could dare Karolina to kiss the person on her right, which just so happened to beNico, but she didn’t want to put her friend in an embarrassing position. Instead, she thought of something that could help her opening up to Nico without forcing her to anything if she wasn’t ready.

“Tell us what you like the most about the person on your right…”

She tried to keep it cool, but when she saw Karolina’s shocked face, she wanted to burst out laughing.

“I… Oh… Uh…” she stammered, red as a tomato.

Nico turned to face the blonde, suddenly interested to know the answer to that. Karolina relaxed as her eyes met the goths’and she let the truth come spilling out.

“I like how strong and tuff you can be even though, deep down, you’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met. I know I can count on you, you’ll always be there for your friends, no matter what. You’re amazing Nico…” she said with such fondness in her eyes, even a blind imbecilic could hear all the love she had for the girl.

Gert looked at Chase and it was clear he thought the same. It was like watching a rom-com without the laugh track. The only missing thing was an ardent kiss…

But unfortunately, it didn’t come. Karolina realized where they were and suddenly straightened herself, clearing her throat to continue the game and hide her embarrassment.

“Molly, truth or dare?”  s he asked with a shaken voice, still feeling Nico’s eyes on her.

“Dare!” Molly giggled happily, probably too young to realized what was going on.

“ Pretend to be the person on your right for the next minute!”

Molly turned her head to see Alex on her right. She got up, taking a deep breath like a comedian before an act, and started to p ut on her show .

“I was in the AV club today and…” She imitated Alex’ voice, pretending to pu sh invisible glasses back  up her nose. “The guys told me  Star Trek was better than  Doctor Who … I mean, come on! It’s  Doctor Who , no shows can be better than it!”

The band started to laugh, the tension in the air suddenly less thick. Even Alex conceded it was pretty spot on.

“Thanks, I’ll think about you guys when I’ll be famous…” Molly bowed as they clapping and cheering. “OK, let’s keep going … Alex, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Dance without music on for a minute.” she giggled.

“Aha! I knew I should have pick truth…”

“Come Alex!” Livvie encouraged him.

He groaned, but got up anyway, doing the robot for the required minute minute. Everyone laughed again, but when he started dancing Fortnite, they all completely lost it, falling over and gasping for breath.

“You guys have to calm down. Can we please keep going?” Alex asked after letting a few minutes to everyone. “Good.Livvie, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Who’s your cru… celebrity crush!” he stammered.

“Shemar Moore, definitely!” she exclaimed without hesitation.

Alex nodded, filing the information away .

“Chase, Truth or dare?” Livvie asked, cutting off Alex dwelling on.

“Truth.”

“What’s your biggest regret?”

Gert sensed his entire body tense, and his eye dimmed slightly as he looked around at everyone.

“How I treated all of you guys last year. I’m so sorry I ignored you, I was such a dick…” he said, a tapestry of regret painting his face. Gert felt her heart pinch.

“It’s fine. We already talked about it and like I said, I wasn’texactly great to you either.” She said softly, brushing the back of his hand with her thumb.

She pecked him on the lips, wiping away his worried expression, turning it into a soft smile.

“Well, I think I can speak for everyone when I say we all forgive you.” Alex said. “But I’m not kissing you.”

They all laughed, the mood suddenly lightening again.

“Should we continue the game?” Chase questioned.

“Yes! It’s too soon to go to sleep!” Molly exclaimed.

“OK, then Molly, truth or dare?”

“Dare!”

“Do 20 push-ups!”

Molly got up, stretching herself a little before doing Chase’s dare so quickly and easily, it was incredible. She was so strong, Gert wondered for a second if she wasn’t on steroids or something. It would explain where she was getting all her energy.

“OK, now I’m tired …” Molly yawned.

“Yeah, we should go to sleep, shouldn’t we.” Livvie said.

“How do we split the tents, guys?” asked Karolina nonchalantly, not daring to look at Nico again.

Gert looked at Chase, sharing a grin as the same evil ideasparked behind their eyes.

Karolina was so going to thank them tomorrow…


	24. sleeping bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

Molly didn’t even wait for them to split the tents, too tired for that she simply crawled into the closest one, effectively claiming it as hers.

Livvie looked around at the rest of them, aware of the dilemma playing out in front of her.

“I’m not really sleepy yet. I think I’m gonna go for a walk…” she said, grabbing a flashlight. “Alex?” the boy practically jumped to his feet at the use of his name. “You wanna come with me?”

“Su-sure!” Alex stammered, getting up on his feet to follow Livvie closely.

Gert took the opportunity to help Karolina. After all, the blonde had helped Chase and her.

“Hey, Nic?” Gert began innocently. “Do you mind sharing with Karo? I’d like to share with Chase, so…”

“Sure” Nico answered in a much too nonchalant tone to be real and Gert rose an eyebrow. “I mean, as long as you two don’t have sex… I don’t want to be traumatized by hearing Chase screaming like an animal in rut.” she joked.

“Hey!” Chase offended, throwing a sleeping bag at Nico.

Nico avoided the attack, grabbing the sleeping back in her hands with a laugh. The laugh died in her throat though, when she saw Karolina looking at her clearly embarrassed, and she seemed remember what she’d just signed up for.

“Ahem.” she cleared her throat, trying to keep a cool attitude. “Come on Karrie, let’s leave the lovebirds alone.”

Karolina smiled, getting up to follow Nico, but Chase stopped her.

“Uh… Kar?” he called. “Sleeping bag?” he said while handing her the fabric with a teasing smirk.

“Right. Thanks Chase.” Karolina stuttered, taking the sleeping bag from him.

And with that, the two girls headed to one of the free tents with not a mention from anyone about Karolina possibly intending to share a sleeping bag with Nico. And Gert thought she’d never seen someone blush harder than Karolina right now, as Nico held the tent flap open for her before following the beautiful blonde inside.

“You think Karolina will thank us or hate us for that?” Gert whispered to Chase as he set about putting out the fire for the night.

“Depends on what happens in that tent tonight.” he winked.

Gert chuckled, heading towards one of the last two tents. Chase followed her, grabbing what she thought were two sleeping bags on the way. She pusher her way into the tiny space, moving to make some room for her boyfriend. He flopped down next to her, happily giggling like a child.

“So… Here the thing…” he started, making her frown. “There were only three sleeping bags left… And I thought, we can’t leave just one for Livvie and Alex to share, right?” he rambled, showing her that he had, indeed, only one sleeping bag in his hands.

“Right.” Gert bit her lips amused. “So, you and I have to sacrifice ourselves and share, just to avoid our friend in such an awkward situation.”

“Exactly.” Chase agreed. “First, we set aside a whole tent for Nico and Karolina to work things out and now we make sure there are two sleeping bags for Livvie and Alex. We are truly the best friends ever.”

“Yeah.” Gert nodded. “We deserve an award for being so incredible.”

“Absolutely.” Chase grinned, pecking her on the lips softly. “Seriously though, if you don’t want us to share you can have the bag. After all, I’m the idiot who was in charge of getting them and got one too few…”

“Yeah… Then maybe you should go share a tent and a sleeping bag with Alex …” she smirked at him, watching him gulping but not arguing against her decision.

“I’m joking.” she hit his arm playfully. “I don’t mind sharing with you.”

Chase grinned like an idiot, kissing her one more time.

“Oh thank God. I was ready to sleep alone in the mud if I had to. Way better than sleeping next to Alex. The guy is a real nightmare to sleep next to, with his sleep talking and kicking…” Chase sighed in relief.

“We should probably have warned Livvie about this.” Gert giggled.

“Wait… Do you think, they’ll share the last tent?” Chase frowned.

“Maybe. Or maybe Livvie will go sleep next to Molly, who knows.” Gert shrugged. “But I bet that by tomorrow, we’ll have at least one other couple in the band …” she sing-song.

“You’re on. Wilder is too much of a wimp to make a move on Livvie. And Karolina literally freezes every time Nico touches her. No way in hell it’s gonna happen tonight.”

“What do I win if I’m right?” she asked.

“A kiss?” he tried.

She snorted.

“And if you win?” she asked.

“Two kisses?”

She rolled her eyes, but chuckled anyway. Chase gave her a bright smile, before grabbing the sleeping bag, unwrapping the material so they could sleep.

“Um…” Chase began shyly. “Should we leave it open? Or use it as a blanket? Or…”

“Oh… Uh…” she bit her lips. “Well, a sleeping bag isn’t really big for two people…”

“We’d have to cuddle all night to fit inside…” he whispered, his bright eyes.

“What a nightmare…” she deadpanned, making him laugh despite himself. “Come on Casanova, let’s go to sleep.” she said, gesturing for him to get inside first.

He did as asked, twisting himself on his side to make enough room for her, keeping the sleeping bag open for her to join him. She followed him, gluing her body to his, so Chase could close the bag’s zipper behind her.

They were face to face, chest to chest, their legs tangled together. And Gert was absolutely not turned on by the proximity of her boyfriend’s hot body to hers. And if she wiggled to be even closer, it was only because it was cold and she needed Chase’s warmth to keep her from catching a cold. Survival instinct, you know?

Chase hands were around her, brushing slow motion circles across her back. She hummed in contentment, her eyes closing on their own at the sheer soothing comfort she was feeling right now. And she hid her face into his neck, nuzzling the soft skin under her nose.

“Goodnight …” she whispered.

“Goodnight, baby.” he replied, resting his head on top of hers.

She was just on the edge of falling asleep, when there were a noise from outside the tent.

At first, she thought it was just the wind, but when the tent started to shake she started to panic.

Gert jumped, now completely awake, and Chase’s eyes snapped open, coming totally alert at his girlfriend’s obvious fear.

“What was that?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll go check.” he said, pulling himself out of the sleeping bag.

“You don’t have to play it tuff just to affirm your masculinity you know?” she replied, and it was harsher that what she wanted.

She didn’t want to be mean with him, but she couldn’t help it. There was someone or something just outside their tent, and they were in the middle of nowhere, by themselves, and her anxiety was all to happy to supply her with images of the worst possible scenarios.

Chase came closer to her, and she grabbed his hands, crushing them with her owns, as she needed something to hold to. Chase didn’t mind through, brushing what was supposed to be calming motion on her palm. But Gert was too scared to think about it right now.

“Yeah, I know. But there is something outside our tent and I don’t want anyone else to end up face to face with a coyote in the middle of the night.” he retorted.

“A coyote?” she gulped.

“I… I mean…” Chase realized he just made a huge mistake. “It’s probably nothing, just Alex and Livvie pranking us. Stay here.” he tried to reassure her.

Except, it was doing exactly the opposite.

“I don’t need a strong man to protect me, Chase.” she hissed.

“I know that.” he sighed.

They didn’t have time to argue about it, the noises became louder, and the tent shook even more violently, like someone was attacking it or something. Chase rushed to the flap, unzipping it from the inside.

“Chase, wait!” she exclaimed.

But it was too late. A shadow jumped inside, and it wasn’t Alex or Livvie. Gert started to hyperventilate, as the thing in front of her looked a lot like a coyote in the pitch black.

But there wasn’t any growling or snapping.

The dark, fluffy shape wasn’t crouching or even coming towards them anymore. Just huddling in a corner and… whimpering?

Gert grabbed her phone from where she’d left it, just next to her “side” of the sleeping bag, and turning on flashlight function. Gert almost had a heart attack when she saw what was in front of them.

A dog.

It was a dog. A dirty, injured and crying dog who probably was just was looking for some place warm to lie down.

“Shit.” Gert cursed, now suddenly more worried about the well-being of this animal than her own-self.

“Gert, wait!” Chase stopped her. “You don’t know how it’ll react; it could have rabies.” he warned.

Gert looked at the animal, shaking and crying in front of them, and decided she was prepared to take that risk.

“Hey you… It’s okay… We’re not gonna hurt you…” she said softly, moving closer to the animal.

The dog looked up at her, clearly terrified and Gert was certain someone had abused this poor creature.

She recognized the breed as an Alaskan Malamute. One of their paws was being held off the ground and it looked like it was probably broken. Some patches of fur were gone and there were scars on what she could see of the bare skin. Gert felt her heart squeeze at the image.

The dog whined loudly, staring at Gert with scared eyes. She reached out her hand carefully, letting the dog sniff her fingers first, until it was close enough for her to be able to touch its head.

“Hey…” she cooed, rubbing behind the dog’s ears very gently. “See. There’s nothing to worry about... You’re gonna be okay now.”

The dog let her pet their head, nuzzling into her hand in a search of comfort. Gert smiled, already feeling like she could understand the animal.

“I think he like you.” said Chase behind her.

“Yeah…” she chuckled, seeing the dog scooting closer to her for more petting.

Chase tried to reach out his hand too, but the animal twitched away, moving back into the corner and growling threateningly.

“And he hates me…” Chase stated, a little nervous and pulling back his hand.

“He’s probably just scared.” Gert replied, moving a little closer on the theory that the dog seemed to like her.

It worked. The dog, seeing Gert from the corner of their eye, immediately relaxed, stopping their growl and letting Gert go back to petting their ears.

“Yeah, you’re such a nice dog, aren’t you?” Gert cooed as the dog licked her hand, making her giggle.

“I won’t be so sure of that…” Chase grumbled, but it was loud enough for her to hear it and she turned to glare at him. “What? He practically attacked me!”

“He was just scared! And maybe they’re a “she” or a “they”, don’t misgender someone you’ve only just met.” she reprimanded him.

“Yeah, I won’t be so certain of that. Usually girls are nicer to me.” he grimaced, staring at the dog in Gert’s arms carefully.

“Sure Casanova.” she rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you make yourself useful instead of being stupid and go get some water for him, her or them?”

“You need to stop calling me that.” he pouted, but as he was asked anyway.

Once he was gone, Gert gave the dog as close a once-over as she could with the light. The catalogue of injuries or potential injuries only increased. Gert also gently checked between the dog’s legs and decided that she was, in fact, a girl. At least, she was as sure as she could be since she couldn’t ask for pronouns.

Chase came back with a bottle of water and one of the plastics bowl they had brought with them to put the candies in. He cleaned it quickly, poring most of the bottle into it and putting it down in front of the dog.

The poor animal was thirsty, drinking like a woman who’d just found an oasis in the desert.

“We should probably go home.” Gert said, petting the dog’s back as she drank.

“In the middle of the night? Bad idea.” Chase argued. “No guarantee you could even avoid getting lost, and that’s the least of our worries”

“But look at her, she’s hurt!” Gert complained.

“I know, but it’s still safer to wait. The sun will be up in a few hours and then we can drive to your house so your parents can help her.” Chase reasoned her, and she nodded, knowing he was right. “Plus, since when do we agree it was a she?”

“I checked while you were out.” she replied.

“Huh, I guess I should be used to being wrong by now.” he chuckled, amused and she smiled softly to him.

“I’m sorry I screamed at you earlier…” she apologized sheepishly. “I was panicking and… You were just trying to be nice, I’m sorry.”

Chase looked at her with soft eyes, brushing her cheek gently with a thumb.

“It’s okay, I get it.” he said.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, until the dog whined a little, dragging Gert’s attention back to her.

“What’s wrong, girl? Oh… It’s your paw, isn’t it?”

Gert tried to take a closer look. Her paw didn’t look broken, more sprained or maybe out of socket, but she wasn’t a vet. She just saw her parents working on sick animals a lot, that was all.

“I think I can try to help you …” she said while digging through her discarded clothes for her scarf.

She caressed the animal’s head, making sure she was calm and holding her eyes, before using the material to try and bandage the leg. She’d seen her dad do this before on some stray cats in the neighborhood when he saw they were in bad shape. She thought she remembered how to do it well enough. It was rudimentary, but it looked like it was easing the pain a little because the dog stopped whining.

“You sure you want to use your scarf for that?” Chase asked. “She’s bleeding. You probably won’t be able to wear it again… I can go look for something else? Or you can take a piece of my shirt, I don’t mind.” he offered.

“Well, I know you like being shirtless all the time, and I’m not complaining about it…” she started, making Chase grin. “But it’s freezing, so better my scarf than your shirt. You’ll catch a cold or something.” she said. “Plus, I don’t mind giving it to her.”

She watched as the dog looked at her with bright eyes, thankful for the help. She was actually really adorable under the dirt and blood, the lacy material of the scarf around her paw only setting it off even more.

“It looks better on her anyway, right girl?” she added, petting the animal’s head.

The dog panted happily, before curling up in place. She fit herself into a bundle, resting her head on the scarf-wrapped paw, her tongue lolling out.

“Aw, look how cute you are!” she exclaimed. “You like that scarf, don’t you?”

The animal answer was a happy “woof!” noise and Gert giggled.

“If all you need to be happy is an old, lacy scarf then you’re welcome to keep mine.” she said softly, brushing the animal head. “Old Lace…” she stammered to herself.

“Reminded me of a doily.” Chase stated, and Gert rolled her eyes. “What? There were always plenty of them at my grandma’s and I think they traumatized me.” he pouted.

“Reminded me more of this old movie.” she replied and Chase frowned. “ _Arsenic and Old Lace_?” she tried, but he shook his head.

“Never saw it.” he shrugged.

“Well, next time we watch a movie together, I’ll pick. No more _Resident Evil_ shit, you have a whole world of art to catch up on.” she said firmly.

“Hey! Those movies are great!” he offended.

“Sure.” she rolled her eyes. “Nothing to do with Milla Jovovich almost naked in all of them.”

“She always reminded me of you.” he replied and Gert scoffed loudly, elbowing him. “What? It’s true!” he exclaimed. “She’s a super sexy badass woman. Just like you.” he said, like it was obvious, and Gert bit her lips. She still wasn’t used to Chase complimenting her. “Besides, I only put those movies on in the hope you’ll get scared and cuddle with me.”

“OK, that was some stupid misogynic, patriarchal bullshit.” she snorted. “Wait, you’ve picked those movies every movie night for the last five years.” she realized.

Chase looked away, not responding, and it only confirm her theory.

“Oh my God, you can be so lame sometimes.” she shook her head, amused, only realizing too late when Chase’s face dropped that her words could hurt him. “Sorry.” she bit her lips. “But please, no more of those! Next time you want to cuddle, just ask. I’ll say yes.”

Chase laughed, looking at her with a loving glaze.

Gert looked at him, brushing a strand of his hair back on top of his head. Yeah, he was lame, and an idiot sometimes, mostly without even realizing it. But he was also fucking adorable. As adorable as the ball of fur snoring next to them.

“Come on, let’s follow her example and go back to bed.” she said, grabbing Chase’s hand to pull him back into the sleeping bag.

“Can I cuddle with you?” he asked, and she realized he’d just used her own words against her.

“I’d like that.” she smiled.

And they did. For the rest of the night she stayed glued to his body, only moving when Old Lace woke up and felt left out, climbing on the two of them to get some attention, waking them both up. Chase groaned, begging Gert to stay asleep a little longer, but when the dog growled he backed off quickly.

The three of them climbed out of the tent, seeing that the rest of the band was already up. Molly was chatting with Nice, the little girl’s hair turned into African braids.

“New haircut, Molls?” asked Chase. “It’s pretty cool.”

“Thanks. Livvie did them for me.” Molly explained. “Is that a dog?!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, but don’t come any closer. She only like Gert.” Chase warned, making his girlfriend roll her eyes.

She heard Chase starting a summary of how the dog got there, and she lost tract quickly, losing herself in her thoughts.

So, Livvie shared the tent with Molly last night… But that didn’t mean that she didn’t get closer with Alex anyway. Like they were right now, with Livvie braiding some African-style braids into Alex’ hair. They were laughing and teasing each other happily and Gert smiled, happy for her friend.

However, the pair who didn’t look like two lovebirds right now were Karolina and Nico. They were staying as far away as they could from each other, and Gert’s heart pinched. She was so sad for Karolina. Gert was so sure Nico felt the same about the blonde girl as she did about her.

Gert could see Karolina pining over Nico from the corner of her eyes, and Gert felt even more sad for her. She must be devastated and heart-broken and…

Wait, hold on a second.

Was that hickey on Karolina’s neck?


	25. fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

“No! Lacey, don’t do that!” Gert exclaimed.

The dog turned her head at the mention of her name and Gert cursed mentally at the state of Chase’s boot between Old Lace’s mouth.

It’d been two days now since they had brought the dog back to the Yorkes’s house and the animal was doing well. Stacey and Dale had checked her out when Gert and Chase brought her back from their camping trip and stitched and bandaged her injuries. They’d also checked if she belonged to anyone. Gert was relieved to know she wasn’t. First because if she ever met the asshole who’d beat Old Lace before they found her, she’ll probably kick their ass. Second, because after a long speech full of good arguments, and Chase being on her side, Gert managed to convince her parent they should keep Old Lace with them.

Chase would probably regret adding his support when he saw Old Lace had chewed on his shoes again. This was the third time in the last two days she’d decided to “play” with some of Chase’s stuff, destroying it in the process. First it was his lacrosse’s stick (not that he was using this thing lately) that Old Lace used as worlds’ best bone to chew on. Then Gert found Old Lace burying his hair’s gel in a recently dug hole in the garden. And now, his shoe.

Bottom line, it was pretty clear Old Lace didn’t like Chase.

Gert bit her lip, trying to take the shoe from Old Lace’s mouth. The dog was uncooperative, pulling back and growling happily at the game of Tug-Of-War her new friend had started.

“Come on Old Lace! You can’t chew on this! It’s bad!” Gert reasoned her, using her mother’s grounding-her-children tone.

The animal resisted a little more, but Gert stopped pulling and just held on until the dog game up and just let go. Old Lace trotted off to the living-room, probably to find something else of Chase’s to destroy.

Gert examined the shoe in her hand, which was dripping with dog saliva and covered in bite marks.

“Shit.” she cursed.

She sighed, deciding it was best to go talk to Chase about it before he found it on his own and start screaming bloody murder. She left the shoe in the hall though (it was too gross for her to carry it all over the house) and headed to Chase’s bedroom.

She was so used to being in there all the time, when they weren’t in her own bedroom, that she opened the door without knocking. When she saw what Chase was up to her first thought was that she should have knocked. After she managed to pull her thoughts together that is.

“Chase, I… Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” she squealed.

Her body was completely frozen in place, unable to move or tear her gaze away from Chase, who was completely naked on his bed and was…

Well, to be clear, Gert just walked on her boyfriend masturbating.

Fuck.

He jumped when she opened the door, clearly just as surprised as her, unsure of what to do. He tried to cover himself through, grabbing the closest thing to put it in front of his still pretty hard dick.

“Chase, not Mr. Bunny!” Gert exclaimed, grimacing at the image of the old toy used to cover his arousal.

“Right, bad idea.” he made a distinctly grossed out face, placing the stuffed animal to the side and using his hands to put in front of his manhood instead. “C-could you… Uh...” he stammered embarrassed, gesturing to the still open door behind her.

She nodded, turning around to face the door, but stopping after that. Was he asking for her to leave or…? Did he just wanted her to close the door… And stay?

“D-do you… Want me to go?” she whispered, biting her lip at her own boldness.

“W-what?” he asked with a strangle voice.

She took a deep breath, closing the door in front of her, making sure nobody else got an eyeful, and turning around to face him again. She was blushing madly and her heart was pounding in her chest, but she managed to repeat her offer.

“Do you want me to go or… Stay… And… Help…?” She could feel the blush spreading to the roots of her hair. What was she thinking?

Chase looked at her completely shocked, clearly not expecting her to offer that. She gulped and started to worry about his lack of answer. It took her all her courage to say something like that out lout and if Chase didn’t want to be any more intimate with her he should tell her quick or she might die from embarrassment first.

“A-are sure?” he asked, his voice full of desire and gaze so intense that it made her legs felt like jelly.

“Yes.” she breathed, suddenly feeling reassured seeing the way her boyfriend was looking at her.

“O-OK.” he replied, his cheeks changing from pink to red before her eyes.

She smiled softly, walking to the bed to meet him. He moved a little to make her some room and she sat next to him on the bed. He was still covering himself, though.

“You can move your hand, you know.” she said softly. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it before…” she bit her lip.

Chase chuckled, remembering their “tutoring” session and how he’d ended up completely naked in front of her. He removed his hand, and Gert thought that his erection might have gone a little down from being caught masturbating. But it hadn’t.

Maybe it was because of her offer to help, but it looked even more erect than a few minutes ago, when she walked in. And if she’d thought she’d gotten a good look at his dick last week, it was nothing compared to how it looked right now, fully erect and pointing to his abs.

She tore her eyes away from Chase’s incredibly hot naked body, to put them back on his eyes, and his pupils were blown wide with desire. But also, there was hint of shyness and embarrassment at being completely naked in front of her again, especially during such a vulnerable moment. And Gert felt a warm feeling in her chest knowing Chase might have the body of a model but could still be as insecure as she was sometimes.

She smiled to reassure him, leaning closer to kiss his lips tenderly. Things started to heat up quickly when she passed her tongue on his lips, silently asking for the permission to enter. He opened his mouth eagerly, playing with her tongue passionately.

As they made out, Gert started to slide a hand down his chest, enjoying the goosebumps that formed under her touch. She gave extra attention to the muscles of his abs which she’d been lowkey obsessing over for years, appreciating the firmness of them under her hands. She continued her way down, brushing the little hairs at the base of his manhood, and Chase bit her lip.

“Sorry…” he apologized, pulling back from her mouth to rest his forehead against hers.

“It’s fine.” she smiled, licking the skin of her lips he just bit. She moved her hand again, this time brushing his sex with her fingertips.

“Gert…” he moaned, closing his eyes.

She smirked and was about to actually take him in her hand when…

“Gert!” screamed her Mom from downstairs, making them both jump at the reminder they weren’t alone in this house. “Your dog is chewing the curtains! Can you come to stop her before they ended up like Chase’s shoe?”

Gert cursed mentally, pushing herself away from Chase, their moment now ruined. His arousal was already getting down, turn off by Stacey interruption.

“I should go check on that before my Mom decides to come looking for me and burst into your room…” she said, disappointed to have to go.

“Y-yeah, it probably be best…” Chase stammered, still a little dazed about what had almost happened.

She pouted apologetically, pecking him on the lips softly before clambering off his bed. She had her hand on the handle of the door when Chase fully digested what he’d heard Stacy say.

“Hold on a second, what happen to my shoe?” he frowned.

And Gert ran out of the room, knowing he couldn’t follow her in his current naked state.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So… You wanna talk about it?” Gert asked Karolina as innocently as she could. The blonde girl, who had been staring off into space before Gert came up to her, jumped in surprise.

“Gert! Oh my God, you scare me!” She put a hand over her heart for dramatic effect (and probably a vain attempt to try and distract Gert).

“Sorry.” she replied, not really caring about it now. “So, you wanna talk about it?” she repeated.

“Talk about what?” Karolina asked in an almost believable innocent tone.

Almost…

Gert bit her lip to stifle a smirk, pointing to Karolina’s neck, which as covered with a scarf.

“I don’t know, the attack of hickeys you got last Friday… After you and Nico happened to share a tent on our camping trip. You do remember it, right?” she teased.

Karolina looked away, blushing like mad which, given her milky-pale skin, made for a pretty impressive sight. Gert did smirk then, raising her eyebrows teasingly. She hadn’t had the time to speak with/tease her friend since they got back from their little trip and Karolina hadn’t texted or called either. So, Gert thought it was best to try to just be blunt about what happened when there were no other members of the band around if she wanted the truth.

“I… Uh…” the blonde stammered, face turning as red as a tomato.

Gert grinned and Karolina finally decided to tell her what happened in that tent that night.

“We kissed…” she confessed. “A couple times.” she paused. “OK, a lot of times.” she conceded, and Gert’s eyebrows rose again.

“Fine, we made out all night…” she bit her lip.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that out already.” Gert said, giggling. “Come on, tell me more! I wanna hear everything!”

She didn’t want to force her or anything, but Karolina had gotten to hear everything about how Gert and Chase became a thing. Not from Gert, but from Chase. Because apparently the guy was a lovesick teenage girl who needed to call his best friend and gush about what happened the minute after they officially became a couple. Also, he thanked Karolina tons of time for her help.

“Well, first we got settled inside the tent and we _had_ to be close because there wasn’t a whole lot of space inside…” Karolina started and Gert gave her a look that meant _really?_

But Karolina simply blushed harder and ignored her friend teasing.

“Then, we started to just talk, like when we were younger and having a sleepover.” she continued, a wide, goofy smile spreading across her face at the memories. And Gert couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she saw how happy her friend was right now.

“And… She asked me about what I said during truth or dare earlier, about what I thought of her … She wanted to know if it was really what I think of her…” Karolina bit her lip again. “We were really close together. And was kinda raw from…everything. I thought ‘fuck it’ and decided it was now or never to tell. So, I told her that yes, it was what I think of her, but also… There were so much more…”

Gert squeaked like a teenage girl, watching her OTP on her favorite TV show go in to kiss for the first time.

“Then there was a second where she was just staring…” Karolina said in a kinda broken voice. “I was starting to freak out… My heart was pounding in my chest and I couldn’t really see her in the dark. So, I thought she was probably just looking for an excuse to push me away or something…”

Gert’s heart pinched, feeling the dismay at the thought of her friend about to get her heart crushed.

“And then she… She literally jumped on me, and started kissing me. All… Night… Long…” Karolina’s blush and smile were back and made he look like she was glowing neon.

“Oh my God!” Gert grinned back just as widely.

“I know!” she smiled back, but then her smile faded.

“What’s wrong?” Gert asked, putting her hand gently on her friend’s arm.

“I was incredible, but… The morning after, she totally ignored me and… She won’t answer any of my texts or calls… So, I’m pretty sure she regrets everything now.” Karolina said downcast, the sound of hurt that had been cried out already fresh in her voice.

“Oh, Kar…” Gert took the girl into her arms, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her.

She could feel new tears starting to roll down Karolina’s cheeks after a minute, falling into her neck where the blonde girl was hiding her face.

“I’m sure it’s going to be OK.” Gert reassured her. “Maybe she just needs some time to figure everything out. You know how confusing it can be to find out you’re not straight, right?”

Karolina nodded into her neck, but Gert could feel that she hadn’t stopped crying. Gert ran her hands up into Karolina’s hair, trying to calm her a little, rocking the two of them a little. They must have stayed like this for a while because they both jumped at the sound of a familiar voice.

“What’s going on?!”

Gert and Karolina split apart to find Nico standing just a few meters away from them, looking at the two of them with a frown.

“Oh my God, Karrie!” she exclaimed when she saw the tears tracks on the blonde’s face. “Are you okay?” she rushed to put a hand on her shoulder. “What happened? Was it Brandon or Lucas? Which one do I get to murder?! Both?!”

“No… I … Uh … It wasn’t anything to do with them.” Karolina stammered, looking at Nico with big eyes.

“Then what is it? What’s wrong?” Nico asked, brushing her hand up Karolina’s arm.

“Uh… It’s just… Well… I mean…” She tried, and Gert felt for her again at having looking this broken up over a girl and then having to explain it to said girl not two seconds after crying. At some point though, she seemed to decide to just go for.

“We haven’t talk since Friday. And… I tried to call you, but you never picked up, so… I just thought that…” her voice cut off, faltering at the fresh waves of emotion.

Nico’s face went white (or at least, whiter than usual) in horror. “What? Oh, No! No! It’s not…” she cut herself off with a growl and tried again.

“I wasn’t ignoring you or pushing you away, Karrie. My Mom took my phone because… well, that’s not important right now.” Nico grumbled. “We got onto a fight and I’m grounded. It was absolutely not about you or us kissing.”

“Oh…” Karolina exhaled, her face completely blank though still red from crying.

“Do you really think I regret anything?” Nico whispered, tucking a strand of Karolina’s hair behind her ear and gently wiping at a glistening tear-track.

“I… Well, we didn’t talk after and… it felt like you were kinda ignoring me.” Karolina confessed.

Nico gulped.

“I was just…confused. I didn’t know how to act in front of the others and… I needed some time to think. But I’ve had plenty this week-end and I know that all I’ve wanted is to be with you, Karrie. But only if that’s what you…”

Karolina didn’t give her the chance to finish, grabbing Nico’s chin and kissing her passionately. Gert chuckled, happy for her friends. After a few seconds of witnessing the impromptu make-out session, she felt like she should leave the two new lovebirds alone.

She slipped away without a word, leaving the girls in their own little bubble, and decided to go tell Chase the good news. And to collect her winnings.

He was standing at his locker, grabbing this and that out to stuff into this bag. When he saw her watching him across the corridor he smiled brightly, putting all his attention on her. He closed the locker to go wrap her in his arms.

“Hey.” he said softly.

“Hey.” she said, grinning hugely up at him. “I have news…” she teased.

“What is it?”

“I’m afraid that you lose your bet…” she said, watching him frowning cutely, a little lost. “From the camping trip. I bet that we’d have at least one new couple in the band and you were dumb enough to be against me. Well, you lose.” she smirked.

“Really? Who? Oh my God! Please tell me it’s Nico and Karolina…” he begged with hopeful eyes.

“Yep.” she nodded.

“Oh thank God! I’m so happy for them.” he smiled. “And… Seeing as you are the winner…” he continued with a cocky smile this time.

“Right…” she giggled, grabbing the back of his head to kiss him tenderly on the lips.

They split apart after a few seconds, their noses still brushing and their foreheads pressed together.

“I’ve got some memories trouble. Did we say one kiss if you win or two?”

Of course he knew the truth, but Gert couldn’t find it in herself to care. She laughed loudly, shaking her head.

“What? It’s really important.” he pouted. “I think we should kiss one more time, just to be sure.”

Gert bit her lip, leaning up to him again. They were only inches apart and on the point to kiss again, when they heard the voice of one of the last people they wanted anywhere near them.

“Well, well Stein.” Brandon said, scornfully. “You’re dating the psycho chick now? You didn’t really have to sink this low to get laid…”

She was about to tell him to fuck off, but didn’t have time for it. Chase was already on Brandon before she could blink, beating the shit out of him.

“Chase!” she screamed.

But it was pointless, Chase had Brandon with one arm, his other arm and hand occupied pummeling his ribs and stomach. His eyes were dark, his entire body ridged and a preposterously calm voice noted that she’d never seen him angrier than right now. Brandon was trying to fight back, but Chase was hitting harder and angrier and his breath had been the first thing Chase had knocked out before trying for his teeth.

Within seconds there was a crowd surrounding them, cheering the action on. A teacher, attract by all the noise, came out of his classroom, asking them to split apart.

“Let me go!” he shouted, but Chase had his arm locked around Brandon’s neck and clearly had no intention of letting go.

Of course, neither Chase or Brandon listened, the first because he didn’t want to let go, the second because he was in no position to move right now. So the teacher called for help and it took five students to pull Chase off of Brandon.

“You’re gonna regret this!” Brandon shouted around his saviors who were now holding him back from Chase, his face covered in bruises and blood dripping down his nose.

“Why don’t you try it so I can finish what I started!” Chase called back, trying to get around his own students holding him.

“Enough!” the teacher screamed. “Principal’s office, now!”

Chase grunted, freeing himself from the grips on him, grabbing his backpack and marching down the hall. Brandon followed him with a mean glare, the teacher between them to make sure there wouldn’t be any more fighting.

Gert trailed them from behind, waiting in front of the principal’s office to see Chase again. He came out after a few long minutes that Gert spent biting her nails from stress.

“Hey! Are you okay?” she asked, her heart beating fast.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m suspended for two days and she’s gonna call my parents…” he explained.

“Good. Now I can scream on you!” she hissed.

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re an idiot!” she exclaimed. “What were you thinking back there?!”

“He attacked Karolina and he insulted you!” he screamed.

“And I can defend myself and so can Karo, thanks for your concern! With words, not fists. You could’ve seriously hurt him! I know that Brandon is evil, but still. You didn’t have to beat him like that! Is violence the only answer you can think of?” she exploded.

She saw Chase’s entire face collapsed, and he gulped, bad memories replaying behind his eyes.

“You’re right.” he said coldly, starting to move.

“Wait.” she stopped him because they weren’t done here.

“No!” he exclaimed, stepping away from her. “I… You should stay away from me…” he said with a broken voice.

“What?” she asked, suddenly worried. “What are you talking about?”

“W-we should stop seeing each other… It was a bad idea…” he said, avoiding her eyes.

Gert didn’t manage to speak again, watching Chase walking away from her silently. She stayed like that for a moment, before she could manage to move again, heading to the bathroom. She didn’t know when she started to cry, but her eyes were full of tears once she was in front of the mirror. Her entire body hurt badly, but the worst was her heart. It was like someone was pushing on her chest strongly, crushing it.

Just like Chase crushed her heart, seconds ago when he broke up with her…


	26. truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

Do you know what’s worse that being seventeen and heart-broken? It’s being seventeen, heart-broken and having to share your house with the guy who crushed your heart into a million tiny pieces…

Gert hated her life.

And, more importantly, she hated Chase Stein.

She wanted to throw him out of her house, or push him under a bus but she was still on the fence.

What she was sure about was it was a nightmare to living a hallway away from him when all she wanted was to never see him again. But she couldn’t do anything about it. Her parents didn’t know she and Chase were even dating in the first place, and even if they did they probably wouldn’t kick him out anyway. It’s not like he could just stay at his house alone.

Today was Saturday and it’s been almost a week since they broke up… No, since he broke up with her, and she was still felt like shit.

Gert knew that the school had immediately called Chase’s parents on Monday and they said that Chase was going to be working for Pride on his two days of suspension. No way he was going to just stay at home and do nothing. And, of course, Chase’s parents decided he was going to learn the hard way and do a double shift at work, starting the day at crazy hours in the morning and coming back when she was already in bed, crying herself to sleep.

So Gert didn’t had to see Chase that much since he dumped her, but on Thursday he was supposed to be back at school and she couldn’t do that now. So, she decided to fake being sick and stay home on the last two days of school of the week. Gert knew it was being a coward, but she chose facility. Stacey and Dale suspected nothing, or at least, they played along with her lie, and she could stay in her room without anyone asking question. And bonus point, she didn’t have to see Chase perfect jawline parading around her house. Hearing him through the wall was already enough torture…

The band was more of less aware of the drama. Gert simply told them that they weren’t a thing anymore and she didn’t want to talk about it. Surprisingly, they respected her privacy, even if Karolina was texting her non-stop for stupid reasons ever since. Gert knew it was just to make sure she was alright and cheer her up, but she didn’t have the heart to answer, knowing Karolina was also Chase’s best friend. Most of the time, Gert simply replied with an “OK” or a thumbs up emoji to Karolina’s spamming texts.

Nico stopped by the house to drop her homework, but Gert kept her door closed, saying she was too contagious to get too close to. Nico didn’t dig any further, but still left her a little note saying she could call her anytime of the day or night if she wanted to talk.

But Gert just wanted to stay in her room alone for now. Except for Old Lace. The dog was the only one authorized into the safe temple of her bedroom. Otherwise, Gert didn’t want to see anyone. All she wanted was to cuddle with her dog, eat mountains of chips and ice cream and cry herself to sleep.

Damn, she became one of the girls she used to pity for being so weak after a break-up.

But it wasn’t just the break-up. She let Chase in, opened up to him like to no one before and, without a real explanation, just stopped everything between them.

She didn’t want one though. A real explanation. She should have known this was bound to happen. Chase and her were too different to be a thing. She should have thought better and not started something with him in the first place. How could she be so stupid to believe he could like her? Or that they could be a couple and it will work?

It was Chase Stein. She’d been pinning over him since preschool and he never looked at her that way. He might have said differently, but clearly it was all a lie. She didn’t know why he did it, but she knew he was just playing with her. And she didn’t know who she was angrier at, him for being the biggest dick she ever met, or her for being so damn naïve and stupid.

“Argh!” she groaned, rolling over in her bed.

Old Lace opened an eye from her spot at the foot of the bed, looking up at her human in question, tilting her head on the side in such a cute way, Gert felt her bruised and battered heart melting a little.

“Sorry Lacey, I didn’t mean to wake you up…” she apologized, bending on her bed to pet the animal’s head. “Shhh… go back to sleep girl, it’s okay…”

It wasn’t, but the poor dog had already put up with her moping, crying and misery over the last few days. Old Lace did as instruct, too tired to complain, falling back asleep quickly.

Gert chuckled under her breath a little at the sight. She tore her gazed from the cutest buddle of fur of the universe to look at her bedside table. She had to squint without her glasses, but she was pretty sure the clock on it said it was already 9:00 AM. The house was quiet and Gert remembered her parents were out of town this week-end for a medical convention in L.A.

Great, just what she needed, an entire week-end alone with the guy she absolutely didn’t want to see…

Good news was that, since Stacey and Dale weren’t around, she could stay hidden in her room the entire time. Chase wouldn’t have the audacity to come check on her, she was certain of that. She had her own bathroom so she wouldn’t have to actually leave this room for the next 48 hours. All she needed was food and water to survive.

And another bag of chips.

Maybe two.

She decided to go on a supply run to the kitchen. She didn’t hear anything from the rest of the house, so she guessed Chase was probably still asleep. She got out of her bed. Shuffling to her door, she opened it carefully and peaked her head into the corridor to see if the coast was clear. Nobody was there, especially he who must not be named, so she stepped quickly out of her room, rushing into the corridor.

There was just one potential problem spot between her and the Kitchen. She’d have to pass in front of his bedroom to get to the stairs.

The door was closed so she tried to carefully tip-toe past it, but a sound made her freeze.

“You’re such a disappointment to this family!”

Gert frowned. She was pretty sure that was Victor Stein’s voice. She recognized that condescending tone easily…

“I’m on the other side of the country, getting treated for my tumor and all you managed to do is get expelled of high school?!” he exclaimed on a harsh tone.

OK, definitely Chase’s Father. And apparently, he was mad as hell about what Chase did.

“First you quit lacrosse. which was the only thing where you weren’t a total disgrace doing, and now this! What were you trying to accomplish, uh?! You want me to fly back to L.A. to teach you a lesson?!” Victor continued.

Gert frowned a little. Teach him a lesson? What the hell was he talking about?

“N-no…” Chase’s weak voice stammered. “I’m so-sorry Dad… But Brandon was…”

“Shut up!” Victor screamed so loud, it made Gert jump. “I have bigger problems to deal with right now than you. But when I’ll get back, you better believe I’ll make sure you’re back on the right track.”

OK. That was weird… First he talked about teaching his son a lesson and now that. He wasn’t implying what Gert thought he was, right?

He couldn’t.

Not to Chase.

No.

She would have known if something like that was happening to Chase, if his Dad was…

_Shit._

Gert held her breath as all the dots started connecting in her head. How could she have missed this? The bruises on Chase that he always said came from lacrosse or fights with other boys at school. The way his eyes got bright when someone mentioned Victor Stein, it wasn’t pride it was fear.

Chase was being abused by his Dad, and God only knew how long it’d been going on…

“I’m sorry Dad…” Chase repeated in a defeated voice. “It won’t happen again…”

“It better not!” he toned.

And with that, Gert heard that distinct tone signaling that somebody just hung up a Skype call.

Gert wanted to puke. She knew Victor was a dick, but this…

This was beyond understanding.

She came back to reality when she heard a strangled noise coming from Chase’s bedroom. It sounded like… A sob.

**_Fuck_ **

Her heart felt like it was in a pro-wrestler’s fist, all her anger toward him gone. Before she could think, she pulled opened the door. Chase was on his bed, his laptop shoved to one side. When he saw her entering the room, he jumped in surprise. Gert remembered the last time this happened and it was almost funny how much difference a few days made.

Chase was crying.

“G-Gert…” he said, surprised and obviously trying, and failing miserably, to cover up what happened.

His eyes were red, tears still dripping down his cheeks. He sniffled loudly, trying to wipe out the evidence of his pain from his face, but it was pointless.

“Chase…” she said softly. She stepped into the room without really thinking about it, moving closer to him.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” he asked, his voice still half-broken.

“I… I heard your Dad.” she explained and his eyes widened. “I heard all of it…”

“Oh… Yeah… Uh, he was really pissed about… the fight and the suspension…” he stammered.

“Chase.” she interrupted him. “Your Dad… D-does he… Has he ever… hurt you?” she asked, now standing right next to him.

Chase looked at her with begging eyes, but she couldn’t care, not now that she knew. She couldn’t pretend like everything was fine, like he hadn’t had to go through all this shit alone.

“Chase.” she repeated softly. “Please… Tell me the truth…” she begged.

“I… I can’t…” his voice broken as the tears started to escape from his eyes again. She gulped, her heart arching in shared pain. She hated seeing him like this. How ironic when seconds ago, all she wanted was to ignore him for the rest of the week-end…

She sat on the bed next to him, putting her hand on his arm gently.

“I… He…” he stammered. “He just… gets mad sometimes… Like, when I get a bad grade or just… When he’s in a bad mood…” he tried to explain, his head lowering to avoid her eyes. Like he was ashamed of it.

Like it was his fault.

“Chase.” she put two fingers under his chin, so she could look him in the eye for what she had to say now. “There’s no excuses for any parent to hit their child! Ever! It’s not your fault and you’ve done nothing wrong. Your father is just the worst excuse for a human being of all time. And you deserve to be treated better.”

He snorted sadly.

“How can you know that?” he asked.

“Because no one deserved to feel afraid of their own parents.” she said simply, not caring about the fact he was a real dick to her only a few days ago.

He looked at her intensely and put his hand on top of hers on his arms, squeezing it gently.

She crocked a soft smile on her lips. She used her other hand to wipe away some of the tears from his cheeks. He closed his eyes, seeming to enjoy the soft caress.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she tried.

Chase’s eyes snapped open, all the fear and worry from before back in it.

“I… I’m not sure…” he stuttered.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to…” she stroked gentle circles on his face with her thumb. “But sometimes, just talking about it helps a lot.”

Chase nodded absently, his eyes closed again. She stayed quiet, letting him take all the time he needed. And after a few seconds, he started to speak again. And he told her everything.

He told her how little he was the first time his Dad ever laid his hands on him. How afraid he was to come home every time he got a bad grade in school, knowing his Dad would use his fists to “teach him a lesson”. How his Mom always watched silently, too afraid to step in.

At some point he ended up crying more than speaking, and Gert took him into her arms. He hid his face into her neck, sobbing loudly. She rubbed his back in what she hoped was a soothing motion with one hand and passed the other in his hair to play with the strands gently.

She didn’t try to talk, just letting him blead out some of the poison, rocking their bodies back and forth. After a while, he stopped sobbing, and Gert couldn’t feel any more tears dripping on her neck. He was just breathing a little heavy, but it was still easier than it had been a few seconds ago.

“Your Dad is really a horrible person, Chase.” she said softly, her head still in his hair.

“It could be worse…” he shrugged. “Now that I’m not a kid anymore, and he knows I’ve got the strength to fight back, he didn’t do it so often…”

Gert untangled herself from him and looked at him with wide eyes.

“You do realize it only makes him even more of a dick? Shit, only abusing people weaker than him. This man is a trash.” she said, anger quickly returning to her voice. “He deserves…”

Suddenly, Chase entire face filled with fear again, but not the same as a few moments ago. No, somehow this was worse.

“You can’t tell anyone, Gert!” he shouted.

“But…” she started.

“No, I’m serious.” he stated. “The only person who ever knew about this and tried to do something ended up missing. Please Gert, I’m begging you. Don’t ever, under any circumstance, tell anyone about this!” he said with worried eyes.

“Chase…” she complained.

“Promise me, Gert!” he begged. “Please… I don’t want you to end up like Amy…” he pleaded with a broken voice.

She gulped, sensing his disarray and his pain like it was her own.

“OK…” she surrendered. “I promise to keep this secret.” she said reluctantly. “But if he ever put his hands on you again, I’ll kick his ass so hard he’ll end up on the moon.”

“Thanks.” he giggled a little, his voice still choaked.

They stared at each other and it was too long.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all this alone…” she said to break the silence.

He smiled sadly, grabbing her hand with his own to play with her fingers absently.

“It’s not your fault.” he replied. “Can we stop talking about it now? I don’t want my jackass of Dad to keep ruining my life even when he’s on the other side of the country…”

“Sure.” she agreed. “But if you need to talk about it again, you can. OK?”

“Thanks.” He nodded.

She smiled back, squeezing his hand gently, before starting to get out of the bed.

“Gert?” he called and she turned around to face again. “About what happened in school on Monday…”

She stiffened, staying awkwardly on the edge of the bed, her body at a weird angle as she was turning to see him. But she couldn’t move and her heart was beating really fast in her chest. Was he gonna talk about it now, really?

“When I said we shouldn’t be together…” he continued.

OK. He was definitely gonna talk about it.

“It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be with you… Far from it.” he said with wet eyes. “I just…” he stopped, closing his eyes, his voice breaking again.

“Yeah?” she encouraged him.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m just too scared to end up like my Dad and I’ll hurt the people that I care the most about…” he confessed, his eyes on the bed comforter and his hand still holding onto hers.

She took a minute to process what he’d just said and then she remembered what she’d said right before he dumped her.

_You didn’t have to beat him like that! Is violence the only answer you can think of?_

_Shit._

“Chase…” she called him and he finally put his eyes on her. “If there’s one thing that I’m completely sure of, it’s that you’ll never be like your Dad. You’re too kind and good for that.” she stated with honesty.

“How can…” he started to protest.

“You’ll never be like him.” she cut him off, repeating the words firmly. “And I’m sorry I ever made you think you might.”

A small smile appeared on his lips, but it was wiped out by the tears that were spilling down on his cheeks again. So Gert went to pull him into a hug again, and this time he hugged her back like she was the only thing he could hold on to.

She didn’t know how much time passed, with the two of them tangled like they were just one person, but she didn’t care either. They both needed this. And maybe more than they thought because before she could realize it, she started to drift to the first peaceful sleep she’d had all week, the warmth of Chase making her feel like she was home.

And from the little snoring she could hear, Chase was already gone before her, his arms still holding her close to him.

And she was probably gonna hate herself latter for that, but there were nowhere else she wanted to be more…


	27. friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to SurprisedMe for having proofreading and correcting this chapter :)

Gert woke up to Old Lace nuzzling her face a few hours later. She cracked an eye and blinked blearily to see a familiar furry muzzle poking at her with a pink tongue hanging out, whining to catch her mistress’ attention when she noticed Gert was finally up.

It took a few seconds for her brain to remember where she was and, more importantly, who she was currently still cuddling with. Chase’s body was tangled with hers, his face buried in the crook of her neck and his arms wrapped around her like he was afraid she might disappear on him.

And she wasn’t exaggerating. Chase literally pulled her in tighter when she tried to untangle herself from his warm body.

“Mph…” Chase grumbled, nuzzling her neck, which sent shivers down her spine. “Where are you going?” he whispered next to her ear.

“Uh…” she blushed. “I just… It’s Old Lace. She’s hungry.” she explained.

Chase pulled his face out of Gert’s neck with half an eye cracked to see the dog standing over them on his bed, waiting (im)patiently to be fed.

Lace barked, probably her way to say hello to Chase and Gert smiled, petting her dog’s head.

Chase finally pulled himself away from Gert, who stymied a little whine at the lost.

“Right.” he said with still groggy voice, rubbing his eyes as he wakes up. “Responsible stuff first.”

“Yeah. We should probably go eat something. It’s already past noon…” she said, gesturing to the clock on Chase’s bedside table.

“Already?” he asked aloud. “Damn, I can’t believe… I was so…”

“Yeah, me too.” Gert said. “I think I haven’t had a decent nights’ sleep all week…” she cut herself when she realized what she was saying.

Chase’s eyes went big as saucers and he gulped.

“It’s because of me, isn’t it?” he questioned with a sad voice. “Because of…”

“You dumping me on Monday without a real explication?” she finished, deciding to go straight to the point. Walking on eggshells was pointless, they both knew. “Yeah. That was it.”

“Gert…” he pleaded, making her looking at him in the eyes. And she saw there was as many pain in his as in hers about this situation. “Like I said earlier, I didn’t want to break-up with you, I was just…”

“Afraid of being like your Dad?” she guessed and he nodded.

“I get it.” she added. “And you’re nothing like him.”

A soft smile appeared on his lips and she smiled back at him. They stared in each other eyes and when Chase’s eyes wandered to her lips Gert’s brain started to over-think again.

How was she supposed to act with him? OK, they spent the last few hours cuddling and catching up on missed sleep after he told her his biggest secret, being completely honest and vulnerable with her, but that didn’t mean they were a thing again. Sure, he told her he didn’t want to break-up with her, that he was just afraid of ending up violent like his Dad and hurting the people he cared about, but they couldn’t just go back to being together like nothing happened.

Chase clearly had a lot going on in his life and, after telling her everything, he was in no state to make a decision like that. He was too vulnerable for that and she couldn’t just take advantage of the situation and get back together with him while he was struggling with such huge problems.

Plus, she was still hurting from all this herself. From the break-up and from the fact that she trusted him and he’d lied to her for so long. OK, it was to protect her, but if he lied about that, who knows what else he could have been not honest with her about? She needed time to learn how to trust him again…

“Chase…” she started and she saw his eyes going back to meet hers.

“Uh-oh…” he grimaced nervously. “I don’t like that tone in your voice. It’s a ‘we need to talk’ tone…”

“It’s… About us…” she started.

“OK. Definitely a ‘we need to talk’ conversation… You don’t want us to go back together, do you?” he guessed with a defeated voice.

“It’s just… You really hurt me and I think I need time. And so do you.” she explained. “It’s been an intense week and I don’t think you’re in a place where make a decision like this without it being biased by how vulnerable you were…”

“It’s fine, Gert. You don’t need to explain.” he said with a sad smile. “I made a big mistake when I pushed you away because I was too scared to be honest with you. I shouldn’t expect you to jump back into my arms like nothing happened. You deserve better than a coward like me…”

“You’re not a coward, Chase…” she reassured him and he made a face that clearly said _really?_

“OK, maybe just a little.” she conceded. “But you’ve been through a lot on your own for so long… It’d be normal for anybody to be afraid.” she said softly. “I just hope that you know you can and should talk to me from now on if you ever feel the need to.”

“Thanks.” he smiled with bright eyes.

“It’s normal, you can always count on me. I’m your friend first.” she put a hand on his arm to squeeze it gently.

“Friend…” he repeated, like he was tasting the word.

“Yeah… Friends.” she said weakly, her heart screaming her this wasn’t what she wanted. But her brain fought harder on this.

He smiled softly, but she could saw his heart wasn’t entirely in this either.

“Just so we’re clear…” he started after a few seconds. “Are we the type of friends that, like… kiss from time to time?” he tried to ask almost casually.

“Chase!” she laughed, pushing his arm gently.

“What? I just want to be sure.” he pouted like a child caught with one too many cookies.

“Sure.” she shook her head from left to right, biting her lip, more amused than anything really.

They stared at each other again, the awkwardness gone this time, both feeling like partners in crime again.

Old Lace cut their moment by reminding them of her presence with a loud bark, and Gert remembered she had to go feed her dog.

“Right, sorry girl.” she apologized, rubbing the dog behind her ears.

“Come on, let’s go feed you.” she said while getting out of the bed. “You’re coming too, Casanova?” she asked to Chase with a teasing smirk.

Chase chuckled.

“I told you to not call me that.” he said, but followed her anyway.

“Stop being such a Casanova all the time and I will.” she replied, smirking over her shoulder.

“I’m not a Casanova all the time!” he offended and she snorted. “What? It’s true!”

“Sure.” she rolled her eyes.

They were walking side by side in the hall now, Old Lace leading the way to the kitchen.

“I’m serious!” he said. “You’re the only one I want to be a Casanova with.”

Gert stiffened at his words. She stopped walking and Chase suddenly realized what he just said.

“Sorry.” he apologized. “I didn’t mean it like… Well, yes I mean it like that, but it was just… you know?” he rubbed a nervous hand behind his neck.

“I know.” she reassured him. “But it’s just…”

“No, it’s fine.” he cut her off. “You said you want us to be friends and I respect your decision. We can do this however you want.”

She smiled softly, and he smiled back for her. And she felt reassured, knowing they were on the same page here.

Friends.

That was cool.

They could totally do that.

They were friends for years before they started dating and it was great. The only time in her life she was truly unhappy was when she wasn’t friends with him anymore. And the rest of the band too, but Chase always had an important place in her heart, no matter how hard she told herself otherwise.

So yeah, they could totally be just friend for now. They both needed time and that was fine. Everything will be alright as long as they could count on the other to be here for them. As a friend.

This would be fine

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t fine.

When Gert woke up on Monday she’d stepped out her room to get break-fast and she ran into an almost naked Chase standing in the hallway. He was just leaving the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel.

A tiny towel, wrapped around his hips.

And Gert didn’t know what turned her on more: the little drops of water rolling down his hot abs or the way the towel was showing off the V of his smoking body.

_Fuck._

And fuck her brain for this “just being friend” idea.

“Morning.” he smiled, drying his hair with another towel. And Gert could help but stare shamelessly at the way his hips moved as he dried.

She shook her head, trying to pull herself back to reality. She flicked her eyes back on his face and managed to catch small but distinctly cocky smile that had appeared on his lips.

_The bastard! He knows exactly what he was doing, doesn’t he?_

“M-morning!” she mumbled with a blush before rushing to the kitchen, hearing Chase’s low chuckles at how fast she left.

She avoided his eyes for the rest of break-fast and during the ride her parents gave her and Chase to school.

When they walked side by side into the school courtyard, they saw the rest of the band was already waiting for them in their usual spot. To say they were surprised to see both Gert and Chase together was an understatement.

“Hey guys!” Gert waved happily.

“Hey…” replied Karolina, her eyes moving between Gert and Chase super-fast.

“Are you two…” tried Nico, unsure if it was a touchy subject or not.

“We’re friends.” Gert replied, her eyes on Chase to watch if he was still fine with it.

“Yep, friends.” he repeated softly. But his eyes were locked on her with the same spark he had last week, when they were making out on her bed, both of them still very much a couple.

“That’s cool.” said Alex. “Anyway, now that the two of you are here, I can tell all of you the good news.”

“What’s up?” asked Chase, curiosity clear in his voice.

“My Mom worked super hard this week-end on Livvie and Karolina’s case, and she managed to get Brandon kicked out of Atlas. Definitely.”

“Oh my God, that’s awesome!” exclaimed Karolina. She turned around to grab the boy into a tight hug. Then, squealing, she wrapped her arms equally tight around Nico, both girls more than happy about the news. The rest of the band started to cheer with them, until Alex brought them back to Earth.

“But, she couldn’t do anything about Lucas … I’m sorry guys…” he said, his face a mask of regret.

“It’s OK, Alex. Your mom’s already done so much… Thank her again for me, please?” Karolina replied.

“Karrie’s right, we won one battle.” Nico added. “Let’s celebrate about it and not mop around about the other one.”

They started to babble happily again, walking arms linked or draped around shoulders to homeroom, when they were interrupted again. But this time it was Eiffel’s high-pinch voice that ruined their victorious moment.

“Last chance to get your tickets for the school dance!” she was screaming all over the school yard.

She was at a table with some other girls of the dancing squad, trying to sell the last tickets for the school dance of Friday night. When they heard her voice, they stopped walking to look at the origin of the noise. And Eiffel decided to be a bitch, again.

“The water polo team will be there, in case you want to diversify and get their captain expelled too…” she said, glaring meanly to Karolina.

Fuck, this girl was really the worst…

Gert saw Karolina grabbing Nico’s hand, and she was pretty sure that it was the only thing stopping Nico from vaulting over the table and ripping Eiffel’s head off.

“Thanks to you, we’re absolutely gonna lose the championship.” Eiffel continued in her unbearable voice. “And that’s also thanks to you, Chase.” she added, smirking like a shark. “I still can’t believe you abandoned us for those bunch of losers”

In that moment, Gert acted without thinking first. She didn’t leave time for Chase to reply to Eiffel. Nope. She was already rummaging through her bag, looking for her wallet, walking with determination to the table where Eiffel was.

“We’ll take five tickets, you hateful bitch!” she exclaimed, taking out her wallet to pay for the tickets. “We’re all going together. That way, we can celebrate the fact that one of the asshole rapists was thrown out of this place!”

Eiffel was looking at her with her mouth open, clearly stunned by the way Gert just called her out. But Gert could not care less about Eiffel at this point. In truth, Gert thought she’d gone easy on the mean girl stereotype. There’d been so many times over the years where Eiffel was a real bitch to Gert and her friends. She could have called her so much worse than a hateful bitch and it would have been just as accurate.

“You’re not gonna say anything?!” Eiffel wined, looking at Chase.

Right. Because as well as being a real popular bitch cliché, Eiffel couldn’t defend herself without the help of a man… Gert pitied her.

She couldn’t say something about it through. Because Chase spoke before she could.

“You’re truly the most amazing person I ever met.” he stated, staring at Gert with a goofy smile.

She looked at him surprised, not expecting that from him. And apparently, he hadn’t been planning on saying it out loud either, because he seemed to snap out of something as soon as he met Gert’s eyes. He blushed a little, but didn’t take back what he said. And Gert smiled softly at him in reply.

She heard Eiffel grumbling about how much of a band of weirdos they were, but she didn’t care anymore than she had earlier. Her heart was beating hard in her chest, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Chase.

And that was one of the most amazing thing anyone ever said to her…


End file.
